


A Miraculous Sleeping Beauty

by Funsizedblondie



Category: Miraculous Ladybug, Sleeping Beauty (Fairy Tale)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sleeping Beauty Fusion, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-29
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 03:29:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5569186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Funsizedblondie/pseuds/Funsizedblondie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prince Adrien is cursed by the wicked enchanter known as Hawkmoth to sleep for 1000 years if he is to prick his finger on a spindle. He is locked up in his castle far away from his people to prevent misfortune to fall upon him. However an impish sprite, Plagg, grants him limited freedom by allowing him to transform into the roguish figure, Chat Noir, who fights for the people along side the enchanting Ladybug.</p>
<p>I do not own any of the characters from Miraculous Ladybug</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Child is Born

    **Once upon a time,** in a far off kingdom lived the noble house of Agreste. King Gabriel and his queen ruled over their kingdom with a kind and benevolent hand. The people were content and lived their lives without worry of famine or plague under the Agreste Dynasty. And when the glorious news was delivered to the people that an heir to the kingdom was born, the people rejoiced and saw the baby’s birth as a sign of peace and prosperity. A healthy boy was born under the sounds of merriment and much festivities. An official celebration for the child’s birth was planned as the christening of the prince. The entire kingdom was invited to the celebration, except for one.

     One person’s invitation was lost and it seemed that the enchanter by the name of Hawk Moth was not invited. This man of magic preyed upon the misfortune of others and excelled at creating monsters out of disgruntled people. And it was because of his wicked talents that he was secluded from the people, which inevitably lead to the misplacement of the invitation. People fled whenever he went into towns so there was no one to tell him of the good news. It was because of this oversight that the enchanter plotted and waited until the day of the celebration to reveal his discontent with the gentle king and queen.

     Everyone raced to the palace gates, humans and magical creatures alike to see the new prince. A small red and black fairy with ladybug wings, approached the prince and granted him the gift of kindness and charisma, to aid him later in life as a ruler. She was also known as Tikki the fairy of good fortune. A young baker, his wife and newborn daughter passed by with the gift of fine pasties for the king and queen to help them relax. Many of the people who came were unable to give more than their respect to the newborn, but all of the guests were appreciated.

     After the entire kingdom paid their respects to the future king, as well as gave the family gifts to celebrate the child’s birth, Hawk Moth appeared among the people. His dark cloak draped off his shoulders and brushed against the ground when he walked. White butterflies fluttered around him and his gnarled staff with a glowing purple jewel atop the rotten wood. The people nearby fell silent and moved out of his way out of fear of being cursed or turned into a monster. He walked directly toward the crib, his staff clacking against the stone floor as he approached the thrones.

     “What a beautiful celebration…” Hawk Moth hissed as he approached the thrones and mockingly bowed to the royalty, “A shame my invitation was lost in the rabble’s, eh King Gabriel?”

     The king grew tense and started to rise, however his queen stopped him with a gentle hand.

     She gave her husband a serious look before smiling at their hooded guest, “We apologize for your personal invitation being… misplaced. However we are glad you decided to join us on such a momentous occasion. I assume you would like to see our child.”

     A tense silence fell in the throne room, the other guest did not dare to make a sound and the queen kept her husband silent with a firm hand placed upon his hand.

     The enchanter broke the silence with an eerie grin that spread across his face, “Of course, why else would I have come?”

     The queen, tense but graceful, rose from her throne and seemingly glided over to her child’s crib. Hawk Moth followed her, ominously clacking his staff against the ground and his butterflies fluttered restlessly around him.

     “This is Prince Adrien Agreste,” The queen looking lovingly at her infant child as she introduced her son to the hostile guest.

     “It seems he has no need for a blessing of handsome features, for you and the king have already provided him with beauty.” Hawk Moth said as he loomed over the crib looking down at the infant prince.

     “Nor will he need to be blessed to be a kind and charismatic.” The queen smiled and gestured over to Tikki who was nervously hovering over a chest of fine infant clothes.

     Hawk Moth scowled as he saw the glowing fairy, it seemed that this faey had no had her invitation misplaced, unlike his.

     “Now it would be unfair for me to come here and not bless your child with a gift, like so many others have done before me.” Hawk Moth looked directly into the fearful queen’s eyes with a wicked smile spreading across his face.

     King Gabriel rose from his throne with a controlled rage commanded, “That will be unnecessary. Nor would we want any sort of gift from a monster like you.”

     The king’s wrathful words echoed throughout the throne room causing the people to murmur in fear. Horror washed over the queen and she moved protectively in between her son and the enchanter.

     “You do not want my gift?”Hawk Moth his lip curled, “First the invitation, now this?”

     He slammed his staff on the floor, cracking the stone beneath it. His butterflies started to fly in a white cyclone around him and a purple energy started to radiate from his magical staff.

     A purple outline of a butterfly appeared as a mask in front of his face as he bellowed, “I could have overlooked the invitation due to your queen’s kindness, but now your audacity to reject my gift when you accepted everyone else's and call me a monster. You have gone too far!”

_“Your prince will grow in beauty thanks to your queen, he will be kind and charismatic as promised by your beloved fairy. Yet,_ ” the enchanter raised his hands above his head and his aura of black and purple expanded to the edge of the white cyclone and the queen was forced to shield her eyes from the brilliant light, “ _despite his many blessings, on his sixteenth birthday before day turns to night, he will prick his finger on a spindle and die!”_

     “NO!” The queen cried out in agony, “Please, no! Spare my son, he did not wrong you!”

     However her cries for mercy fell on deaf ears, Hawk Moth did not care that the child had done nothing to him, he only wished for the arrogant king to suffer. He thrived on others misfortune and his curse would be the cause of the inevitable downfall of this kingdom. One of his butterflies landed upon his staff and it’s bright white wings bubbled into black and purple hues.

     “Fly my akuma!” Hawk Moth commanded, “Curse the prince to live a short and doomed life!”

     After the last speck of white was consumed by the dark magic, the corrupted butterfly flew over toward the prince’s crib. Fluttering over the queen and landed on the balled fist of the fussy infant before dissolving into his skin without a trace.

     The enchanter cackled with glee as he proclaimed, “Enjoy your misfortune, your majesty’s!” and disappeared in a ball of fluttering butterflies.

     The throne room erupted into madness with people of all stations began to weep or lash out at one another because their beloved prince’s fate was sealed and only could end in sorrow. The queen tried to calm her child in the chaos, and the king struggled to stay composed. Despite his distraught he gathered his will and restored order to the throne room. He made it a royal proclamation that no one would speak of the curse. Anyone who even muttered anything about it would be sentenced to death. King Gabriel wanted his kingdom to still prosper and be merry even if his heir would not be able to ascend to the throne. He could not allow neighboring kingdoms to use his son as an excuse to attack his kingdom and let misfortune fall upon his loyal subjects. All the people who were in the room agreed, for the well being of the kingdom, the cursed that was placed on the child did not exist.

     “Now, leave us. We have some personal matters to attend to that cannot wait.” The king dismissed the entire room except for one.

     After all had left, the fairy Tikki lingered over the prince’s crib and was speechless. The king had sunk into his throne, overwhelmed with grief and silently wept for his son.

     The queen picked up her wailing son and tried to comfort him through her own tears, “My sweet child, how could I have failed you when you needed me the most?” She looked to Tikki with pleading eyes, “Is there anything you can do to save our son?”

     Tiki solemnly shook her head, “I cannot grant your son another gift.”

     “But I can, if I’m not too late to the party.” a sarcastic voice called out from an open window.

     Everyone turned to see a small cat like imp leaning against the window frame. He had a large grin, big ears, a long tail and bright green eyes that popped in contrast to his black fur.

     “Now you decide to show up!” Tiki exclaimed, “Plagg, I told you not to be late for the christening!”

     “There was some Camembert that so happened to be a one of my gifts to the prince, but it was overripe and I had to eat it.” Plagg dismissed Tiki’s scolding and hovered over to the queen and the wailing prince, “He’s a noisy little one, isn’t he?”

     The queen dried her tears and pleaded to the imp, “Can you save our son?”

     The prince’s large green eyes and stared directly at the floating imp, as if Adrien himself was asking with his innocent eyes for help. The imp felt uncomfortable by the way the prince had calmed down and was looking at him for help.

     Plagg looked at the baby with disgust before looking away, “I saw it happen, I wish I could remove the curse, but alas I cannot.” He looked back at Adrien, “However it can be modified.”

     The king had sat up and wiped away his tears and austerely commanded, “Do what you must.”

     The imp bowed respectfully before granting the prince a new gift.

     Plagg’s hands began to glow as he started to cast his spell, “On this boy’s sixteenth birthday, he will prick his finger on a spindle, but he will not die. Prince Adrien will be cursed to fall into a sleep like death that will last for 1000 years unless this curse is broken by true love’s kiss.”

     The imp tapped the prince’s nose and transformed the cursed with his gift and the prince fell asleep.

     The queen placed her child back into his crib and fought back her tears, “Then there is hope for our child.”

     “It’s the best I could do your majesty,” Plagg said sincerely, “I wish there was more I could do for your child, I just hope he finds true love before he turns sixteen.”

     “And he will. We will give him a betrothed and he will marry her. He will have ‘true love’ before this curse is able to become a problem.” King Gabriel announced, “We will start searching for a princess to be his future wife at once!”

     Plagg and Tiki looked at one another, concerned that the king did not comprehend what true love actually meant.

     “Gabriel, you cannot-” the queen started to protest.

     “My love,” the king walked over to his wife and held her hands, “I do this to ensure the safety of our son’s life as well as our kingdom’s. I know it may be drastic to try and create true love but I cannot stand idly by and wait for it to possibly happen.”

     “What if this is all for naught?” The queen was also concerned for son’s well being.

     “We will never know if we do not try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, exposition! More chapters are to come, they just have to be placed in a format that will allow me to post to the public.


	2. The Lonely Prince

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where the fun begins. We get to see a glimpse of Prince Adrien's castle life, who he interacts with, the identity of his fiancé and some of his desires for life. What will become of our dear prince?

     After the day of the curse, the king assembled the best warriors and hunters for a manhunt to find and capture the elusive enchanter. But their efforts were fruitless. The enchanter had fled and secluded himself once more from the people. Anyone who came close to finding him would vanish and never were seen again. With the numerous accounts of missing people, the king and queen grew fearful that Hawk Moth was gathering his forces and planned to return and further harm their child as well as their kingdom. They decided that the best way to protect the lone heir to their kingdom was to conceal him in the castle away from his subjects.

     Despite the king’s many efforts to protect his son, the queen was still worried for Prince Adrien’s safety. This worry eventually turned into an illness and there seemed to be nothing that the kingdom’s healers could do for her. Every day that passed, her ailments steadily increased and her health was in decline. First she was not able to stand for a extended periods of time, then she needed assistance walking. Eventually she could no longer stand and became bedridden. It was not long after she lost her mobility that she also lost her will to live.

     The queen passed away and her kingdom mourned. She left behind a heartbroken king and a motherless child to rule the kingdom. With the loss of his beloved wife, King Gabriel grew distant not only to his people but to his son as well. Now the king still loved his child however, every time he looked into son’s green eyes or saw him smile, he was reminded of his wife. There was only so much grief that the king would allow himself to have and his cursed son was a constant reminder of how much he had lost because the enchanter. It was because of the king’s inability to be around his son, he used his power and wealth to ensure that his lone heir would never need or want for anything. Everything except for his father’s love.

     Prince Adrien grew up being surrounded by the best tutors, from fencing to royal advising, but never much personal interaction with his father. He had limited interaction with people his own age and status, with the exception of a few nobel’s children and his fiancee. But never more than a glance for the people that he would soon rule over one day.

     It was another day of lessons and the prince was on his way to his instructor, Armand D'argencourt, for fencing practice when he heard a voice in the foyer.

     “Adrikins!” the sing song voice of his fiancee called out to him, “I’m waiting for you!”

     Prince Adrien took a deep breath, he didn’t mind spending time with his betrothed. But he was not overly fond of how Princess Chloe swooned over him and how she treated everyone else as if they were dirt. He had always found that everyone deserved to be treated fairly and with kindness no matter their station. Much to many of the people of the court’s dismay.

     He looked around the corner to see his betrothed standing in the entry hall wearing a golden dress made of fine silk with a black trim. Her honey blonde hair was neatly tied up into a bun with a pearl headband that matched her necklace and bracelet. She stood proudly next to her modestly dressed lady in waiting who was holding her basket

     “Princess Chloe,”  he walked around the corner and said with a gentle smile,” what a pleasant surprise.”

     “Surprise?” She said before turning to her lady in waiting with a tense smile, “Sabrina, I thought you said that you sent a letter out to inform them that we would be arriving today.”

     “I did, my lady…” Sabrina said as she fixed her glasses and nervously brushed a stray red hair from her face.

     “Then tell me, why is my beloved and betrothed prince surprised that I have arrived!” Chloe raised her voice causing her lady in waiting to cower.

     “We may have received your letter, however, “ Prince Adrien gently grabbed her hand to try and calm her down, “I was not informed of your arrival. I am certain that Nathalie knows something about this but was simply busy attending to other things and did not have the chance to tell me.”

     Princess Chloe started to pout but her attention was diverted to her betrothed, “I thought I was more important to you than that.”

     “I will sort this out immediately.” Prince Adrien said sincerely and let go of her hand, “Let me find someone to escort you to a guest quarters and it will be like none of this ever happened.”

     Princess Chloe’s face lit up, “And maybe after this debacle is sorted out, perhaps we can go on a stroll around the castle.” She leaned in to whisper in his ear, “Some time alone. Just you and I…”

     Prince Adrien began to feel flustered and backed away, “Let me go find someone and maybe then we can talk about, erm a walk around the castle.”

     He sped away from his fiancee, walking with purpose but not too fast for a prince. He still had to worry about appearances.

      It was not long before he found his manservant, Nino who was walking and looking around for someone.

     “Nino!” Prince Adrien called out to him.

     “My lord,” Nino said surprised to see the prince walking about, “I was just looking for you. You are late for your fencing lesson. Lord D'argencourt sent me to go and find you.”

     “There’s no time for that, there is a larger issue at hand.” He pulled his friend to the side of the hall, “Has anyone heard from the house of  Bourgeois recently?”

     “I believe I overheard someone talking about your Fiancee earlier but I personally have not heard of anything new.” He thought before looking to his friend, “Adrien, is something wrong?”

     The prince grimaced, “I feared you might say that… I just need a guest room prepared at once. We have a surprise guest.”

     Nino started to laugh as the prince looked around to see if anyone else was near by, “Your fiancé decided it would be a lovely idea to visit her ‘Adrikins’ unannounced, again.”

     “She really does mean well.” Prince Adrien tried to defend her, “Sometimes her plans are not considerate of others.”

     Nino raised his eyebrow and replied with a quick bow, “You have said it, and not I. But worry not, her majesty will be attended to as an honored guest. And her room will be prepared shortly.”

     Prince Adrien put a hand on his shoulder, “You are a good friend, Nino. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

     “Hire another manservant to replace me,” Nino joked and winked to his friend, “Best be off, room preparations and all of that.”

     Nino ran towards the guest quarters and ducked into the closest one to see if it had been recently dusted to find Alya finishing making the bed.

     “Thank goodness I found you.” Nino said with a smile, “Is this room ready for a guest to stay in it?”  
     “I would think so,” Alya was perplexed by his question, however given how he was slightly out of breath he seemed that this was urgent. “Don’t tell me, Princess Chloe arrived unannounced, again.”

     “Do I ever come running unless it is important?”

     “Or Marinette brought fresh bread from her father’s bakery.”

     “Must you mock me so?” Nino pretended to be offended by Alya’s remark.

     “Must you dawdle? You know that the queen bee with get restless if you do not have her hive ready for her when she arrives. She’s probably been waiting in the foyer all this time, unless someone escorted her to a library or something.”

     “Then I better be off, I hope she likes her new hive.” Nino said before rushing toward the foyer to hopefully appease the irritable princess.

* * *

 

     Prince Adrien was positively exhausted. He was lectured by Nathalie for missing his fencing lesson and for making his fiancee wait in the foyer while he acted “like an errand boy rather than a prince”. He was further ridiculed about his “unprincely behavior" before he was released to spend the entire afternoon entertaining Chloe. He listened to her talk about the luxuries of her own castle and how his almost matched hers, and how she needed one of her dresses to be repaired. He kept kept his mouth shut when she made snide comments about his servants because he knew how important this betrothal was to his father. Not to mention he barely made it through her incessant need to shower him with affection. He managed to make it through dinner before retiring to his chambers for the evening, claiming he was feeling slightly unwell and just needed some rest.

     He walked into his room and flopped onto his bed, sprawling out in the most unprincely manner to relax. He stared up at the canopy above his bed wishing for something more out of life. He hated living locked up in the castle, never allowed to go outside of its protective walls for his own safety. He loathed how the nobility around him insisted that he was better than the servants and he shouldn't be so friendly with his servants. He never could be himself without breaking some ancient law or earning someone’s disapproval. He wasn’t allowed to be a boy of his age and have fun.

     “I wish I knew what it was like to live outside these walls…” he sighed as he rolled over onto his stomach and planted his face into one of his pillows.

    “Something might be arranged to allow that.” A voice cackled with glee as if he had been waiting for someone to say those magic words.

     Prince Adrien lifted his head from the pillow and sat up to look around the room.

     “Who’s there?” He demanded.

     “Ooo. Someone’s been taking kingly lessons.” the voice replied sarcastically.

     The prince slid off his bed and looked around his room, “Who are you? Where are you?”

     “Right before your royal eyes,” A small imp revealed himself, relaxing in the windowsill.

     Prince Adrien stood in shock, trying to form a coherent sentence but failed miserably. He had heard of some of the subjects in this kingdom that were not human, magical even, but he had never seen one before. But this black furry creature was nothing like he would have expected. It’s unsettling green eyes and cat like features were overwhelming his ability to rationally think. All he saw was a small monster standing in his windowsill, making sarcastic remarks at him. It frightened him but also made him curious about the creature.

     “I know it’s a lot to take in, your highness, and seeing how you are acting like a fish out of water, let me explain.” The imp jumped off the windowsill and glided over to the prince’s bed, flopping on a luxurious pillow, “I’m Plagg, a magical imp who helped save your life when you were just a babe. Your mother and father were practically begging me to save you.”

     “You knew my mother?” the prince interrupted and sat next to Plagg, all sense of danger dissipated at the mention of his mother.

     “Yes Adrien, but that’s not important. What’s important is I helped fix the curse that was placed on you.”

     Prince Adrien interrupted again, “I was cursed?”  
     “Still are. Don’t they teach you this in, whatever they teach you?” Plagg looked at Adrien with confusion, “I mean wouldn’t your old man have told you this already?”

     Prince Adrien looked down, “My father really doesn’t talk to me anymore. Not since my mom died.”

     “I’m sorry about that, I didn’t know.” Plagg said sincerely, “Anyways you’re cursed, you won’t die but you’ve got to get a girl and fall in love.”

     “What, why?” Prince Adrien jerked his head up to look at the imp with a confused expression.

     “True love’s kiss, your majesty.”

     “What does that have to with anything?”

     “You have to have your one true love kiss you and break the spell.”

     “Okay, well I have a fiancee. Is that good enough?”

     “Do you love her?” Plagg asked skeptically.

     “She’s nice enough…” Adrien thought about Princess Chloe.

     She loved to talk about herself and did not treat those of a lower station very kindly. Not even her lady in waiting. She always seemed to place herself above all else, including herself. He knew it was his duty to marry her, for the well being of the kingdom, but he could not imagine himself happily married to her.

     “Given that furrowed brow, I’m gonna take a stab in the dark and say you don’t love her.”

     “I’m fourteen, how should I know what love is?” Adrien said irritably.

     “You should start to, unless you want to sleep for 1000 years.” The imp commented nonchalantly.

     “I thought you said you fixed the curse!” Adrien exclaimed as his own temper started to rise.

     “Well, I did.” Plagg shouted defensively, “At least you won’t die when you prick your finger on a spindle on your sixteenth birthday!”

     The air around them grew tense. Plagg realized he had crossed a line by yelling at a boy who had no idea how bad his life could actually be and Adrien was trying to process all of this new information.

     “Why are you telling me this?” Adrien broke the silence, his jaw was tense.

     “Why shouldn’t I?” Plagg shrugged and managed to lighten the atmosphere around them with his snark, “I’m your impish godfather, who is here to help you find love. And I know you won’t get the chance to find it locked up in this castle.”

     “But if you knew this for all of my life, why wait until now?” Adrien asked wanting to know more, “Why not after my mother died? Why not when I needed a friend when I was younger?”

     “The king stated that my intervention was forbidden, let alone to speak of the curse. But now time has changed, you have grown to be more responsible and now you are ready.”

     “Ready for what?” Adrien was growing tired of the imp running in circles avoiding the real issue.

     “For this.” The imp held out his hand and in it was a simple silver ring.  

     Adrien picked up the ring and examined it. There was no markings on the outside to identify it out of the ordinary, however on the inside of the band there was a small inscription in looped lettering.

     “That right there is a miraculous, a piece of jewelry that can make your wildest dreams come true. All you have to do is state what the inscription says when that ring is on your finger and vola!”

     Adrien placed the ring on his right hand’s ring finger, “And what might it grant me?”

     Plagg grinned devilishly, “Freedom.”


	3. The Apprentice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally Chapter 3 has arrived, it would have been out sooner except for the fact that two weeks ago I decided to make a Miraculous Ladybug Cosplay for Ohayocon (this past weekend) and basically everything in my life went on a hiatus just so I could finish the costume. But it was well worth it. Now I will be needing to work on some things for the Steampunk Symposium that's happening in April and a teen meet up in February. 
> 
> I do apologize about the wait, but I hope you enjoy this next chapter ^-^

     Many months had passed since Plagg showed up to deliver the prince a magical ring to solve his problems. Ever since that day, Prince Adrien would excuse himself whenever he could to test out his new powers. He found that it was easy to sneak in and out of the castle when he was not his princely self. His “imp-godfather” was correct about one thing, Prince Adrien desired nothing more than freedom. Whether it was escaping from the burdens of his responsibility or needing some time to be himself, Plagg was willing to help. The imp was insistent that the prince needed to be out more among his people and try and find someone to love.

     And of course, the imp was correct. The prince’s new found freedom allowed him to find a partner who fought against various magical attacks that were sent by the infamous Hawk Moth. Someone with magical abilities, like himself. He was enchanted by her beauty, her strength and the fact she was not afraid to tell him off when he did something wrong. And it did not hurt that she treated him as an equal. She never placed herself above him or below him. There was no status barrier when they fought side by side, through many hardships and monsters. They trusted each other with their lives because that trust kept them alive. And for the first time in Prince Adrien’s life, he felt like he could tell this girl anything. Even though he knew nothing about the girl behind the mask.

     One day there were sounds of distress that echoed throughout the castle. Prince Adrien was on his way to his quarters for some down time when he heard someone shouting about a harpy attacking a local village. This was the type of news he was looking for, the kind that would give him a chance to leave the palace unnoticed. He slipped into the shadows unnoticed amidst the palace panic. He looked around to ensure he was alone before holding up his miraculous.

     “Plagg,” he whispered, “I think our friend needs to make an appearance.”

     The imp hopped out from the shadows and onto the prince’s shoulders, “Agreed. At your leave, your majesty.”

     The prince looked around the corner again before commanding, “Transform, Chat Noir!”

     With the magical command given, the imp transferred his essence into the silver band changing it into a black and studded ring. Prince Adrien threw his hand into the air allowing a green energy to build around his hand. He summoned his cloak with a hand motion of pulling a hood over his head. As he performed this motion, a black cloak appeared and a hood with cat ears was pulled over his head. He swiped across his face and his eyes changed into inhuman green cat eyes and a black domino mask covering his face. A golden bell kept his flowing cloak in place and the rest of the green energy transformed the prince’s royal clothes into plain peasant clothing that were designed for mobility and functionality rather than decorative and a show of status. His hands were covered by black clawed gloves and the remaining green magic dissipated into the ring.

     “You never fail to perform, my faithful companion.” Prince Adrien now spoke as Chat Noir.

     Without anymore delay and without hesitation, the rogue lept out of the open window and onto the castle roof tops. Chat Noir’s feet clattered against the shingles as he dashed across, gracefully hopping from one rooftop to the next. Prince Adrien loved the thrill and excitement that he had as Chat Noir. The wind billowed behind him and ruffled his hair that hid under a hood, something that he would never be allowed to do as his princely self. He wanted to let out a triumphant sound of victory as he raced with the wind in his hair, to celebrate this exhilarating sensation. But knew better than to give away his position and have one of the royal guard spot him before he wanted to be spotted.

     Chat Noir had a devilish grin creep onto his face as he raced over the rooftops and toward the stables. He perched on a nearby roof as scouted out the area below. There was only one horse out in the open, the captain of the royal guard’s horse. And she already had a saddle and reigns put on her. He hopped off the roof, rolled behind a crate before sneaking up to the horse and mounting it.

     As he settled into the saddle he hear a cry of discontent from the other side of the court yard. Chat Noir snapped the reins, causing the white mare to bolt forward. They dashed out of the stables with the captain chasing after them on foot.

     The vigilante turned around for a brief moment to call back to the royal guard, “I’m just gonna borrow her for a bit!”

     The captain started to curse at the vagabond as he chased after him, however, Chat Noir kept riding toward the village with a smile on his lips and adventure on his mind.

     “ _You might want to invest in your own horse someday, instead of having to steal others.”_ Plagg laughed and his voice echoed inside Chat’s head as they rode past the outer castle wall.

     “But then that takes out the fun.” Chat Noir replied as the horse jumped a ditch and galloped toward a heavily damaged village.

     A distant screech and the sounds of destruction lead the rogue straight to the heart of the conflict. Chat Noir’s vibrant eyes lit up with excitement as he rode, sounds of conflict meant his lady was near by. With his heart fluttering with excitement and anticipation, he entered the village and swiftly dismounted the horse. He raced over to a nearby building to find his daring lady. He almost ran into the middle of a vicious battle between the harpy and his partner, the Miraculous Ladybug. However he ducked around the corner of a battered house and waited for the right moment to jump in and fight.

     The gruesome harpy with brown and white feathers, razor talons and a piercing beak dove down to attack its opponent. It smashed into the ground causing a large dust cloud to surround it, blinding the creature and allowing its opponent to leap out of the way. Standing in opposition of the vicious beast in the ruins of the village was an equally vicious young woman. She stood in the settling dust only armed with a yoyo, her strong determination and ferocity. Chat Noir could see the fire in her eyes and she would not back down from this fight.

     Chat Noir watched his lady with her black hair tied back in a ponytail with a red spotted ribbon launch her yoyo to smack the harpy upside the head to daze it. As she caught her weapon, her black chemise rippled in the wind and her red gloves tightened around her hands as she clenched them into fists. Her spotted red doublet stretched and flexed with the warrior as the yoyo was launched again and it wrapped around the harpy’s leg. Ladybug’s red boots dug into the dirt as she used her strength to try and pull the harpy down, but to no avail. It has seemed that neither of them were making any progress to outmatch the other in a battle of strength.

     It was then that Plagg managed to snap the vigilante out of his love struck gaze and Chat Noir ran into the heat of battle straight towards his partner.

     “Glad you finally showed up.” Ladybug smiled when she saw her ally join the fray.

     Chat Noir grabbed onto the rope and started to pull with her, “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, my lady.”

     With their combined strength the Harpy was steadily dragged closer to the ground.

     “Grab that necklace, I can hold her!” Ladybug commanded and Chat Noir willingly obeyed.

     He let go of the rope and dashed toward the harpy. He reached under his cloak and pulled out a condensed staff. He pressed a button on its side and it magically began to extend out into the desired length. Once he was close enough, Chat Noir stabbed the staff into the ground and used it to launch himself over the harpy. As he flew through the air and over the harpy, he snatched the necklace from around the monster’s neck.

     He stuck the landing behind the creature and threw the necklace to Ladybug, “I think this would look better on you.”  
“Oh Chat, you know I’m not really a jewlery type of girl,” she caught the it with ease and bantered back as she dropped the necklace on the ground, crushing it beneath her heel.

     Ladybug launched her yoyo and captured the akuma with ease, cleansing it before releasing the purified butterfly and healing the surrounding village from the harpy attack.

     “Job well done,” the two heroes said in unison as they high fived one another, leaving the girl who transformed into a harpy confused in the middle of the village.

     “Now that the day’s been saved, perhaps we could spend some time together?” Chat shamelessly flirted with Ladybug.

     He was enchanted by her intense blue eyes, ferocity in battle and commitment to saving the people of the kingdom. He spotted a lone wild flower and presented it to her. He adored her as much as she devoted herself to saving these people. He wanted to know more about this girl. The one out of battle and behind the mask.  

     With a charming smile he said, “We could simply go for a stroll, if that’s all that you have time-”

     The sound of a beep rang from Ladybug’s miraculous and it cut him off.

     She accepted the flower she responded sincerely but with a certain level of sorrow in her voice, “Chat, we shouldn’t get caught up in our own world when the real one calls. Maybe next time we fight a creature we will have more time. But then again, the royal guard are probably out after your head for stealing a horse again.”

     “I do know how to have fun don’t I?” he didn’t deny her accusation.

     “I don’t have the time to save you from yourself. I don’t think my less miraculous self wouldn be able to help you this time.” She scolded him for his reckless behavior.

     “You probably are more miraculous without your powers than you give yourself credit for.”

     “Keep your claws retracted, kitty cat.” Ladybug laughed and placed a hand on his shoulder, “I have a feeling Hawk Moth will be sending us a new friend soon.So it won’t be long”

     “But when will I be able to see you again?” Chat Noir looked slightly disappointed, “I should like to know more about my partner than knowing that I can trust her with my life.”  

     “Tonight then. I should be able to sneak away with ease tonight. Meet me where we first stumbled upon one another at dusk. And don’t steal a horse to get here.” Her earrings beeped again and she placed the flower in her hair, “But I must away, anon for now.”

     She ran in the opposite direction of her companion leaving him with a lingering touch, butterflies in his stomach and a desire for.

* * *

     Ladybug hid in an empty barn and allowed her transformation to dissolve revealing her exhausted fairy companion. A peasant girl stood in the barn with a red bodice, white chemise and a yellow skirt. Her long black hair was tied back with a red ribbon that was neatly tied in a bow and a wild flower tucked into the bow.

     “Tikki!” She said as she saw the fairy lying on the ground, “Did I over do it again?”

     “No, Marinette, not today, I’ve just been tired recently. I’m sorry I couldn’t have held out longer. Chat sounded like he really wanted to talk to you.”

     Marinette let out a disappointed sigh, “He wanted to talk to Ladybug. He likes her, not me, the plain old Marinette.”

     She took out the flower from her hair and looked at it sadly.

     Tikki tired to encourage her friend, “But what if he wanted to get to know _you_.”

     Marinette laughed as she put the flower back in her hair, “Chat adores Ladybug. She stands up for what’s right and can win a fight. She can use her wit to solve any problem and there’s nothing in the world that can seem to stop her when she is on a roll.” She lost her confident demeanor and dropped her shoulders, “I’m nobody. Just a small peasant girl, daughter of a baker who works in the palace as a seamstress’ apprentice. How could he adore someone so unspectacular? ”

     Tikki sighed in defeat, “You’ll never know it unless you talk to either of him. Chat may be someone you wouldn’t expect to be, someone like you maybe. Or even from this village!”

     Marinette found her bag from earlier and broke off a piece of bread and gave it to Tikki, “That would be something wouldn’t it?”

     However the fantasy of knowing her allies identity came to a grinding halt, “But we can’t share who we really are because it would place both of us in danger. More danger than before. Not to mention it would crush him. He loves how I am when I am not myself. It would be like me actually getting to spend time with Prince Adrien and realising he is everything I am against. Of course, Prince Adrien is a gentleman to ladies, or so I’ve heard. He is even kind to his fiance, even though she is a selfish and narcissistic princess from a kingdom over. He still is kind to her.”

     Marinette adored Prince Adrien, he was handsome, blessed with charisma and kind to everyone. Occasionally she would walk by him in the castle hall when she was delivering things and he would smile at her. Just thinking about him made her heart beat faster. However she knew that it could never be. Her chances to move up in status were non existent and  the prince could never marry a commoner, not when he could have a princess. But this didn’t stop her from dreaming.

     She picked up her bag and placed her fairy in the bag before walking towards the castle. Marinette soon found herself  lost in thought. She daydreamed about her handsome prince and wished for more free time to be spend with him. Most of the time Natalie kept him busy with lessons that he didn’t seem to have time for himself, let alone for anyone else. But she remembered when she was very young, sometimes the royal family would make appearances to the people. Something simple like standing on the castle wall and waving to the crowds below. However, after the queen’s passing, this tradition seemed to disappear. People talked about how the king grew paranoid and more protective of his son. Some said it was because Prince Adrien was his only family left and he wanted to protect his child. Others speculated the reason why Hawk Moth was growing more bold was because he was planning on attacking the kingdom to seek revenge on the king, perhaps even to kill his only heir. Yet these people could not explain what sort of grudge the enchanter could hold against the king. However Marinette felt that all of these could be true even if parts of it could not be explained.

     “ _I wonder, if something happened to the prince when he was a baby that made the king so scared for his son’s well being…_ ” She thought to herself as she walked through the outer gates and into the safety of the castle.

     She walked through the servant entrance, through the kitchens and out into the hall. She made her way down a spiral staircase and into the royal tailor’s work room. Fine silk and fabrics of all shades and colors were carefully organized in the room. In the corner there was a series of shelves filled with fine garments that had been requested to repaired.

     She looked around the room to find the royal tailor however there was only a note left behind for Marinette saying, “Out gathering more supplies.There is to be a banquet soon and the king and prince need some party clothes in good condition. Leave complex repairs to me, fix their chemises.”

     Marinette’s brow furrowed, “‘Leave the complex repairs to me, Ha! She knows that I am better than fixing stitching on a chemise.”

     She walked over to the shelves and picked up one of the garments. It was a dark green cape with gold and black accents. Some of the beading had started to come undone around the hem, presumably from it being snagged on a chair. A couple of the beads were missing as well and part of the black lining was fraying. It wasn’t in terrible disrepair however it would be slightly more challenging to mend than a simple skirt or bodice.

     As she looked at the garment she noticed that it was smaller than a normal noble’s cloak, made for someone of a smaller stature. Close to her size...

     Marinette nearly dropped the cape when she heard the door open. She carefully folded it and gently placed it on the shelf before turning around to see none other than the owner of the cloak. Prince Adrien.

     She froze seeing the prince down in the castle’s work shop, but snapped out of her daze and curtsied to him. She didn’t dare to speak out unless she was spoken to by him. And most definitely, she couldn’t bear to look at him in the eyes because she knew she would be lost in them.  

     “Please recover,” Prince Adrien said, “There’s no need to be doing this when we are in a workshop.”

     “Yes your majesty.” Marinette nodded before rising, “What can I do to you. For you! Today! What might you need me to do, erm I mean, oh…”

     Prince Adrien gave her a sweet smile, that of understanding and kindness as she fumbled through trying to speak to him.

     “I was just stopping in to see if my clothing was sent down here and how the repairs are going.”

     “Well, um… they just came down here. I was just about to start on some of the repairs.”

     “Might I stay and watch you work?” The prince suggested, “It is rare for me to have some free time before a lesson, and it would be interesting to watch someone who works with such fine details. The skill that is needed to perfect such a craft must be tremendous.”

     Marinette could barely contain herself. She felt her eyes grow wide. The prince, Prince Adrien, of all people wanted to spend his free time watching her do her job.

     “Absolutely, so long as I am not going to impede upon your princely duties.” Marinette bowed her head respectfully. She turned around to see the pile of clothes that needed to be repaired and grabbed the chemise that looked to be about his size. She grabbed a white spool of thread and needle from a shelf before sitting down at the work desk. Prince Adrien pulled up a nearby stool and sat next to her as she started to look over the seams of the chemise. Marinette threw herself into her work, focusing on the tiny details of the shirt, searching for any seam that might be loose and random holes before quickly stitching them up. Her repairs were nearly perfect and difficult to detect from the naked eye.

     When she finished the shirt she looked at it with pride. This was a simple piece of clothing but she made it so it would be the foundation of a beautiful outfit.

     “And it’s done!” Marinette held up the shirt with a smile, “Now your majesty will not have to worry about your chemise coming undone during the banquet.”

     Prince Adrien softly smiled, “That is good to hear. It was fascinating to be able to see how you work and nice to see your focus on making this. I am grateful that we have such diligent and skilled workers in the palace. I hope that I will be able to be more acquainted with all who work here.”

     Marinette started to blush deeply and struggled to speak, “Y-your highness, you are far too kind! But won’t it take you too long to learn about all of us who work here?”

     “It will be worth it. If everyone else who works here is like you, then I will know this kingdom is full of good people. Thank you for letting me watch you work, I hope you won’t mind if I stop by again if I have free time.”

     A small squeak escaped from her mouth and she clasped her hands over her mouth. She slowly nodded turning redder than before.

     Prince Adrien let out a small, kind laugh, “I will let you go back to your duties and stop distracting you, miss…”

     “Marinette…”

     “It was a pleasure to watch you work, but now, to lessons I must go.” He put back the stool he was using and walked toward the exit.

     Marinette nodded and watched the prince leave the work room. When the door shut behind him she melted off the stool. Her heart was pounding her face was tingling and she could not stop smiling. Prince Adrien spend an hour of his time just watching her diligently work and do her job. He complimented her work and then complemented her! Her as a person, he said she was a good worker and skilled.

     She sat there in a daze holding her hands over her heart until Tiki snapped her out of her love struck daydream, “Marinette! You have to keep working so you don’t miss meeting up with Chat at dusk.”

     Marinette blinked several times before a determined expression spread across her face, “I have to keep working to be the person that Prince Adrien thinks I am!”

     She picked herself up off the floor and diligently worked until the sky started to turn a beautiful shade of pink.


	4. The Reflecting Pool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ayyyyyy now it's time for back story! Whoop whoop, please enjoy.

     Prince Adrien wistfully looked out the window watching the sun dip down into the horizon over the course of an afternoon. He could not wait until he could jump out the window and see his lady. He could barely focus on the French lesson before him, the fable of how his kingdom was founded. His tutor, Madame Bustier, was reciting the historical relevance of the fable, not noticing her student was far more interested in the yellow butterfly dancing outside of the window and the sky that was changing colors.  
     “Your highness,” She interrupted his day dream, “Can you tell me how the four fairies created this kingdom?”  
     “Tikki the Fairy of Ladybugs used her power of good fortune to create peace in the realm. Enough to allow civilization to be born. The purple butterfly fairy, she granted magic to the land to allow it to be used as a tool to help those in need. Then there is Plagg, the imp-”  
     “Fairy, your highness. All of the magical creatures in this tale are fairies.” She quickly corrected him.  
     Prince Adrien continued, “However Plagg understood how humans could be corrupted by power. So he harnesses the energy of bad luck and misfortune to allow humans to live peacefully.”  
     “Very good, and the last fairy?”  
     Prince Adrien started to speak however a bell went off to signal the end of his lesson and time for evening activities. He stood up swiftly, almost knocking his chair over and rushed to the door.  
     “Your highness?” Madame Bustier called to him, “What of the fourth fairy?”  
     “Um,” He paused next to the door before turning with a smile, “I don’t know.”  
     He did not wait for her to stop him again, he was on a schedule that could not be interrupted for once. He walked with purpose past busy working servants holding various things. He did not stop to recover anyone and managed to brush off anyone with a gentle decline before hurrying on his way. The only one he could not seem to brush off so easily was Nino.  
     “Your highness!” He called from the end of the hall running toward the prince, “Your highness!”  
     Prince Adrien was almost at his chamber doors when he heard Nino call to him. It was as if his man servant always knew when he was in a rush, need help or didn’t want to be around anyone. That’s what made Adrien like him so much and the honesty that he maintained when speaking with him.  
     He turned to his friend with a smile, “Ah Nino, just the man I needed to see. Please tell the kitchens they need not worry about sending dinner up to my room this evening. I am not hungry.”  
     “Prince Adrien,” Nino caught up to the prince, out of breath from running, “That is precisely why I was sent up to find you. Natalie sent me to tell you she wishes for you to have a meal in the dining hall this evening.”  
     “Tell Natalie I will be unable to attend this evening. The rigorous schedule she has set up for me has left me exhausted. All I wish to do is retire to my chambers, study some French Literature, and be left alone to my own company for the evening.”  
     “Adrien,” Nino said with concern, “If I am able to speak my mind, as a friend, I am worried for your well being. You haven’t come down to eat at a formal setting in weeks and people are starting to become worried about your well being.”  
     Prince Adrien cringed, hating making people worry about him more than they already do, “I know it must cause others distraught that I am wanting to be alone, but I assure you as a friend that I am not neglecting my health. I am trying to take care of myself and when I want some food, I promise you that I will have some.”  
     “I will let her know of your decision.” Nino bowed respectfully, “Please make sure you take care of yourself. I wouldn’t want to be out of a job because someone forgot to eat a dinner, your highness.”  
     “Away with you then, go off and do what needs to be done.” the prince laughed as he was finally able to retire to his chambers.  
     Prince Adrien quickly entered and locked his chamber’s door. He looked across the room to see that the sun had dipped deeper into the horizon and the sky had a glint of yellow in the pink and purple hues. As much as he loved speaking to Nino and listening to his banter, his lady was going to be expecting him soon and there was no time to delay. As an extra precaution, he wedged a chair under the door handle before transforming into Chat Noir. The raw power that he felt as the green energy flowed around him and changed his very being made him feel like a new person. The silent and obedient Prince Adrien was no more, the bold and adventurous Chat Noir gave him freedom to be as wished to be.  
     Chat Noir effortlessly leapt out the window, rolling through the fall and into a run. He was racing against time, watching the sun sink down further into the mountains and light extinguishing itself from the kingdom. He raced on foot from the castle wall into the nearby woods. He ran through the trees, leaping over roots and swinging on low hanging branches. Eventually, he climbed up a tree and into its branches and looked through the dark forest. He saw a faint glowing light in the distance and a sweet song floated through the trees. It was the song that his lady liked to hum occasionally while waiting for an enemy to arrive. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the song’s melodious tune, it reminded him of a lullaby that a mother would sing to her child. A feeling of serenity came over him as he listened, he almost didn’t want to move. However the chance to be with his lady to discuss whatever they pleased, gave him the motivation to move forward. He gracefully swung from branch to branch before reaching the source of the enchanting music.  
     He perched on a branch hanging over a glowing pool of water. It’s magical glow illuminated the forest in a gentle blue hue. Ladybug, his beautiful lady sat next to the pool singing and humming her tune. Sometimes she would add words to the song, however most of the time she sang in tunes that had no meaning but evoked powerful emotions. She wasn’t facing toward him, when he arrived and had not seemed to notice his arrival from above. He looked down at her watching her move her feet as she hummed before he watched her get up and start to dance by herself.  
     It was nothing elaborate, a simple skip step and an occasional twirl as she sang, “...that gleam in your eye is so, familiar a gleam… la da,da da da, mhm mhm mhm mhm…”  
     Chat dropped down from the branch and snuck up upon her as she sang and danced. He waited for the right moment when her arms were out and gracefully floating through the air before joining in the dance and familiar song.  
     They sang together, “... the way you did once, upon a dream..”  
     As much as Chat wanted to continue dancing and singing with his lady, the fairy tale dream dissipated. Ladybug pushed away from him and turned around to see who joined her. Her face initially was that of shock and her shoulders were tense, however she relaxed and her emotion turned to embarrassment when she saw her green eyed admirer.  
     “I never knew you could dance and sing.” He said innocently.  
     “Nor I about you.” She said trying to dismiss the comment, “But who would, since we are strangers happening to meet in the wood.”  
     “Oh we are not strangers, remember we met long ago.” He reached out and managed to kiss her hand before she snatched it away, “As you so beautifully sang, that familiar gleam from someone you met once upon a dream.”  
     “Never in my dreams did I meet you.”  
     “But perhaps I met you in mine.” He tried to charm her.  
     “The first time we met-” Ladybug huffed but was interrupted.  
     “-you tried to break my arm. Thought I was brigand after your coin purse.”  
     “But instead we stand here and you still try to steal my heart.” She walked toward the glowing pool, “Even after I tied you up and forced you to talk.”  
     Chat shrugged, “What could I say, there is no stopping me when I start to talk. Especially to someone so lovely.”  
     She gave him a skeptical look, an eyebrow raised and hand on her popped hip. He loved it when she did that because when she resorted to this look, he knew that he was starting to break her shell.  
     She flicked the bell on his cloak and gave him an impish smile, “One could think that you like being tied up.”  
     He felt his eyes grow wide, did she actually do what he thought she did. Was this her way of flirting back with him.  
     Chat barely managed to keep his voice steady, “Perhaps, or maybe it was the person who tied me up made it so enjoyable.”  
     This broke her. It started with a snort, then transformed into a series of short laughs before becoming complete hysterical laughter. Chat couldn’t help but join in with her, he had to admit that his comment was a little ridiculous, but it made his heart flutter hearing her genuine laughter. It was so rare to hear such a beautiful sound from anyone. Whenever he was at a party, he himself could not partake in childish laughter. Everyone around him had a false sound, as if they thought that they were above laughing.  
    “Sometimes I wonder if you are serious, kitty.” She said wiping a tear from her eye was she tried to gain composure, “But never in my life would I have thought that you would say something like that.”  
    “Something that played off of your own flirtation?” He said as he calmed himself down.  
    She walked toward the trees and gently dragged her hand across the bark, “Something so bold…”  
    When she disappeared behind the tree Chat was compelled to follow.  
    He strolled over to the tree, going on the opposite side and popped his head around, “Something so honest?”  
    Unfortunately for him she was not standing there waiting for him. He looked around the forest floor and there was no trace of red to be seen. He had turned around to try and see if she had returned to the calming light of the reflecting pool when he heard her voice come from above.  
    “Precisely.”  
    There she was, crouching on a branch high in the tree with a playful smile on her lips. She motioned for him to come up into the tree with him before leaping to another branch hiding in its leaves. He became giddy with excitement and used his claws to scale the tree. He swung up onto the branch where he had saw his lady. He made two loops before perching on it and his cape settled down around him.  
    “Speaking of unusual actions, you this evening have been quite the flirt yourself. I thought that was my job.”  
    “I am not!” Her indignant voice gave away her position.  
    Chat rolled his eyes, “You have to be kitten me.” He jumped from branch to branch before reaching the same branch as his lady, “You have never been so engaging. Not like this before.”  
    She seemed to have been startled when he dropped onto her branch but was still relaxed. She sat there with her feet dangling in the air and looked toward the glowing pool with a serine expression.  
    She turned to him and poked his nose, “That’s because we don’t have an akuma attacking us.”  
    Her gentle and playful gestures made his head spin, “So you aren’t opposed to me saying things, at all?”  
    “Only when they are in combat. They can be rather distracting.” She laughed, “They aren’t bad ones, but they definitely help me lose focus during battle when I need to assess the situation. But when we aren’t in danger, I don’t care if we banter back and forth. It’s just good fun, right?”  
    That struck him like an arrow through his chest, this just a game for her to play with him before running off to her normal life. To completely forget about all of this.  
    “Chat…” Ladybug’s face was filled with concern, “Are you alright?”  
    “Ye-yeah!” He came back into reality, “Everything is peachy keen!”  
     Chat Noir jumped off the branch and onto the forest floor. He looked up to his companion with a smile, “Just remembered something that I need to do.”  
     Ladybug used her yoyo to safely swing down the branch and land next to her partner,“And what might that be, silly kitty? Running away before we can actually talk to one another?”  
     She noticed he wasn’t being completely honest when he responded to her question. It was obvious that he had liked her for quite some time and she didn’t want to make him sad. She knew how important this meeting was to him and she didn’t want one of her blunt comments to put him in a sour mood. And he never used the phrase "peachy keen" unless he was hiding something.   
     Chat fumbled for words and tugged on the edge of his hood, “I-I…”  
     She sat down next to the glowing pool and pat the ground next to her, “If you have nothing else to do this evening, sit down for a bit. Isn’t that the reason two strangers are meeting in the woods?”  
     Chat’s cat ears perked up at the invitation and dismissed his previous thoughts as he sat next to her. “What might you want to chat about?”  
     She rolled her eyes at his ridiculous pun and tried to think of something that wouldn’t give her identity away, “I don’t know… maybe something small, like my favorite color is red, so what is yours?”  
     “Green. Now my turn… I adore you both as Chat and my unheroic self, do you adore someone?” He leaned back and gave her a charming smile.  
     Ladybug was surprised how quickly he used this question and responded tactfully, “I do like someone, however his identity shall not be revealed. As much as I adore him, we will never be able to be together.”  
     “Really? Someone as wonderful as you couldn’t win the heart of any man?” he said surprised at her response.  
     “Even if he would notice me, we couldn’t be together. That is just how the fates have played this game.” She shrugged and accepted reality however kept her dream, “But that doesn’t mean I am willing to give up on him.”  
     “I know what you mean.” Chat said understandingly and gazed lovingly at her.  
     She tried to lighten the mood with a short laugh, “Anyways, my turn again, um… what is one thing that you have never told anyone, besides your true identity?”  
    “Hard question, but I have a good answer.” He said as he looked toward the glowing pool, “Recently I discovered that I have a curse placed on me.”  
    “What!” Ladybug said louder than she intended.  
    “That was my reaction too. I’ve had it ever since I was a babe but never knew. However, the perk of me discovering my curse was the chance to fight beside you.”  
    “What type of curse are we talking about? Like you are going to die, turn into a toad, a stone statue or have your first born be taken away?”  
    “No, none of those. On my next birthday I will fall into a deep sleep that will last for 1000 years. And part of that curse means that I won’t age or die. I will simply be frozen in time unless the curse is broken.”  
    “Well on the bright side,” she hesitated to speak, “you at least have a chance to get rid of this curse. Hope is a powerful thing that can make impossible things occur. Like for me, before I became Ladybug, I thought I was going to live out a boring and uneventful life. But now I know it will be extraordinary.”  
     She stood up and offered her hand to Chat, “And I know you will be by my side to keep it that way.”  
     He graciously accepted her offer and stood up with her, “Do you not understand that I am cursed? And the cure that can break it is nowhere to be found.”  
     “We can find a way to break it. And I’ll search for a cure even if you take your long nap. I’ll find a way to wake you up so we can fight together again.” She shrugged, “I need you to help me fight, cause we are a team, remember?”  
     He couldn’t help but smile. His Lady was being so kind to him, offering to help break the curse that was placed on him without even knowing the cure. This is why he adore her, no, loved her so much. Her loyalty never swayed, no matter how many terrible puns he made or how much he flirted with her, she was always there by his side. Now she had become a trusted confidant with his biggest secret. Well other than his true identity. But he knew she didn’t want to mix up her personal and heroic lives too much. Even though she had agreed to come and speak with him when there wasn’t an attack threatening the wellbeing of the kingdom.  
     “Ladybug-” he started to speak but was interrupted by the sound of his ring beeping.  
     “Chat-” She also tried to speak but was interrupted by her earrings beeping as well.  
     “I have to go…” Ladybug said sadly but managed to smile, “Can’t let you have by biggest secret, yet.”  
     “Please say. This would make it easier for both of us if we knew each other’s identities.” Chat said as he gently grabbed her hand, “I don’t want to tell you goodbye. Not right now, at least.”  
     “I’ll make sure we can see each other, before your birthday.” She said as she pulled her hand away from his grasp, “I feel like an Akuma attack will happen sooner than we would like.”  
     She launched her yoyo into the dark forest, but before she whisked away into the darkness she told her partner, “And I promise you, you will not sleep for 1000 years.”


	5. Heartstrings and Repaired Clothing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So about that hiatus.... yeah school happened and then college is happening. I'm going to try and finish this story and not abandon it before its done.  
> Also kinda of a fluff chapter but I swear important things are coming soon.

     Ladybug wasted no time as she blindly ran through the dark forest. She stumbled over roots and ducked low hanging branches that threatened to throw her off course. All while having the greatest of urgency to get to a moonlit path, she could not help but scold herself. She had indulged the promiscuous tom cat’s advances, and for what? Now he probably believed she was toying with his emotions just for the fun of it. He wasn’t inherently wrong. She wanted to know the rush and feeling that she could receive if she flirted back with someone. And it was paw-sitively exhilarating.

     Flirting was fun, especially when she had a mask to hide behind that gave her a great deal of confidence. It gave her chills when he joined in on her dance and sang. Her heart beated faster than she expected it to as he gently held her hands. They were in sync with one another when they took those few steps together and harmonized their voices so quickly. It was as if they were in combat, playing off each other’s body language, but there was no danger around them. The urge to play back on his words was far too tempting after that moment.

     But with every step she took, leaping over dead logs and streams, guilt also filled her heart. When she was Ladybug she felt invincible. Nothing could touch her and any worry or self doubt shouldn’t even exist when her spots were on. But the lingering dread of betraying her love of Prince Adrien would not settle. For as long as she could remember, she adored her prince charming and her love for him had _never_ wavered. Even though he was someone she rarely saw. However, any moment she was graced with his presence, it felt like she was walking on a cloud. But deep down she knew that her love could never be returned, she even admitted that to her partner when she had barely admitted it herself. No one could break the engagment he had, let alone let him marry a servant.

    She broke through the forest’s edge and into the moonlight where her miraculous gave her a final warning. She sprinted across the open field and toward the nearby village. She barely made it behind a building before her transformation wore off, leaving her faithful companion exhausted. Marinette peaked around the corner to see if anyone had come to investigate the strange flash of light, but she was the only one wander out in the early night. She carefully stuck her kawamii in her bag before walking toward the barren street. But her mind was still flowing with a thousand conflicting thoughts. Chat Noir or Prince Adrien? Who did she love more, who did she love at all?

     “Boy troubles?” A tired voice came from her bag and a little red head popped out of it.

     Marinette let out a tired sigh herself, “Nothing that can’t wait to be dealt with until tomorrow.”

     She was genuinely surprised at how fatigued she actually felt. Perhaps it was a combination of a labor intensive day and running around the forest for most of the evening and early night that wore her out so much. Nevertheless, she could not wait to flop onto her bed and sleep away her aching body and heart.

     Marinette woke up the next morning with little to no sleep. Her mind simply would not stop buzzing around with thoughts of last night. The moments kept replaying in her mind, the harmony they made, the flirtatious chase and both of them admitting certain details about her life. She silently cursed herself as she walked to the castle for another day of work. Perhaps it was the general fatigue that made it easy for her to push off these conflicting feelings. Nevertheless, it was going to be an irritation in the back of her mind.

     She walked over to the servants entrance to the castle where she walked into a bustling room. Marinette stood in the doorway shocked at the frantic behavior of those around her.

     “Marinette! We need you over here!” A familiar voice called out to her.

     She looked through the bustling room to see her friend Alya frantically waving and beckoning her to come over.

     “What is going on here?” Marinette weaved her way over to Alya.

     “Where have you been!” Alya exclaimed, “Princess Chloe arrived last night and has made a huge list of demands, including repairing a dress that was mysteriously damaged that she wants to wear tonight.”

     “Will she ever show up without damaged dresses?” Marinette started to weave her way to the door, “I’ll start on those right away.”

     “Her majesty is in the guest quarters last I checked, unless she decided to go complain about something else. I hope she isn’t in a bad mood when you get there. Rose was yelled at for bringing grapes and cheese to her room. Apparently she didn’t like the type we brought her.”Alya shouted at her friend as Marinette rushed out the room.  

     Marinette walked with purpose through the halls before arriving at the guest quarters where she heard a distinctive shriek come from behind one of the doors. Marinette braced herself for the worst as she walked up to the door to knock. She hesitated for a moment before she carefully knocked against the door. The voices behind the door suddenly became silent. There was a pause before the door was opened by a lady in waiting, Marinette recognized her as Lady Sabrina.

     “Good day,” Marinette curtsied, “I am here to fetch Princess Chloe’s damaged dress.”

     Lady Sabrina looked at Marinette, up and down as if she was examining her for quality, “Princess Chloe is not in the mood for servants to be pestering her at the moment, however she did state that the repair of her dresses are to be on top priority.”

     She turned around and started walking into the room leaving Marinette to look into the chambers to see the four post bed with canopy draped around the bed with Princess Chloe nowhere to be seen. She followed Lady Sabrina into the guest room and over to the wardrobe and opened it. She held in a gasp when she saw the sheer volume of dresses that needed to be repaired. Five fine gowns were in terrible condition.

     “Princess Chloe wants this to be repaired as soon as possible, and she will be needing to wear it during the feast tomorrow evening.” Lady Sabrina said calmly as she started to hand the dress to Marinette, “Oh and do be careful when you attend to it. Princess Chloe’s dresses are made of only the finest of cloth.”

     Marinette quickly looked at the poor state of this ball gown, it was missing almost an entire row of bead work and had been ripped down the back seam. The bottom hem was frayed from it dragging on the ground. Over all, this was one of the most beaten up dresses she had ever seen.

     “If by chance this is not repaired by tomorrow before the ball due to other repairs, is there a backup dress that Her Majesty would be willing to wear?” Marinette inquired since there were still repairs needing to be done on her own monarch’s garb.

     “You will repair this dress or you will be to blame for me not showing up to the feast.” Princess Chloe said as she pulled back the canopy, “It is important that Prince Adrien sees that he has competent servants as well as me dressed in only the finest of clothing.”

     Marinette held her tongue, she wanted so desperately to drop the dress in her arms and walk away from the entitled princess. Instead she tried a more diplomatic approach and refused to step down to the princess’s low level.  

     “Your majesty, with all due respect, I am afraid we may not be able to repair such a fine dress in such a short time. With just a quick glance at the state it is in, for this particular dress would take at least two day's worth of work, if not more, to repair them to your standards.”

    “Are you telling me, Princess Chloe of the noble house of Bourgeois and fiancee to your crown prince, that you will not do something? I will be your future queen, so you will do as I say or be hung!” Her voice steadily grew in volume.

     Marinette looked at the princess and monotonously stated, “Your dress will be prepared as soon as possible, your majesty. May I deliver these to the royal tailor?”

     Princess Chloe stood up off her bed and brushed off her dress. She placed her hands delicately in front of her before walking over to Marinette.

     She leaned in close before whispering, “These will be done by tomorrow. Or you will pay dearly. Are we clear?”

     Marinette gritted her teeth, “Yes. Your, majesty.”

     The princess had a smug look on her face before turning around and with a dismissive hand, excused Marinette to leave.

     Lady Sabrina started to tend to her princess while Marinette slipped out the door with dress in hand. After gently shutting the door behind her she took a deep breath. She had managed to make it through an entire conversation with the princess without anything getting thrown at her and her life was only threatened once. She knew that she should take the princess’s threats with a grain of salt, for now, it’s not like she was going to become queen anytime soon. Let alone be married to the prince until the far future.

     Marinette looked down at the dress and with determination set off to the tailor’s shop to finish more repairs.

* * *

 

     Prince Adrien was on edge. His future fiancee had been invited to come to the castle for a fest. She had arrived a day early, but even if she had arrived right before the feast would commence, his nerves would still be on fire.

     “Your Highness, you will wear a hole in the floor if you keep walking around in the same spot.” Nino said as he pulled out the prince’s clothes for the evening.

     Prince Adrien briefly stopped in his tracks before remarking, “Perhaps then when I fall through it I will no longer be required to attend this evening’s feast.”  

     “Why must you torment yourself over a simple feast, you get to eat food, dance and have a break from your duties.” Nino shrugged as he placed a dark green tunic on the prince’s bed.

     “This is not just some festival day for celebration, my betrothed and her father were invited to the kingdom specifically for this feast.” Adrien started to pace again, halfway undressed from his fencing lesson, “Not to mention my father will be right next to me judging my every move. One misstep in a dance, one misspoken word or one table setting fiasco and the entire night is ruined. It is so easy for me to make a mistake and tarnish the reputation of my entire family.”

     Adrien flopped on his bed with his arms out wide. His white undershirt untucked from his pants and his shoes barely laced and his hair was a disheveled mess from him running his fingers through his hair.

     Nino looked at his distraught friend with sympathy, “You really need to get out more.”

     “I would if there wasn’t a royal decree banning me from leaving the castle walls.” Adrien groaned.

     “You don’t have to worry about anything for tonight, you will be your regular charming self.” Nino said as he sat on the opposite end of the bed.

     Adrien raised a skeptical eyebrow at his manservant.

     “I mean, it’s not like you aren’t expecting to have a moment like this happen.”

     There was a pause before the prince replied,“Explain.”

     “It’s probably something to do with your engagement.”

     “Thank you for the obvious and unsettling information” Adrien grumbled.

     “You’ve been engaged since you were like 5.” Nino said off handedly.

     Prince Adrien sat up and gave his friend a dirty look, “That doesn’t change the fact it’s unnerving!”

     The restless prince hopped off his bed and began pacing again. Normally he was never this nervous, but tonight was a voyage into the unknown. It could be just a celebration of their engagement, a friendly get together or something completely different. But he knew deep down in his heart that this was untrue. This was going to be a momentous occasion, if it wasn’t, he would eat stinky Camembert.

     There was a faint knock on the door that stopped the prince from pacing. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair to make it less unruly. He motioned for Nino to see who it was.

     Nino set down the last piece of the prince’s evening attire before answering the knock. A few short words were exchanged before he shut the door.

     “There is a young maiden outside who wishes to fulfill her duty. She will require you to be partly dressed in this evening’s attire so she can ensure your garb is in pristine condition for tonight’s ball.”

     “Very well, have her enter.” Adrien shrugged as he disappeared behind a privacy screen, “Hand what I need to put on first after that.”

     The prince took off his chemise and tossed it over the screen before reaching a hand out to wait for his friend to hand him his shirt. It is gently placed in his hand and he takes fancier fancier shirt.

     He ruffled his hair and stepped out from the privacy screen, “Nino, I feel like I’m forgetting something.”

     A female voice replied, “Perhaps it your hose and breaches, your majesty.”

     Marinette had just picked up his missing articles of clothing. She had just turned around to see her prince wearing his loose pants that reminded her vaguely of peasant pants the shirt she repaired and a surprised look on his face.

     “I thought Nino was still here.” He said as he looked around the room.

     Marinette attempted to keep a level head in this situation, but she never could have imagined how attractive the prince would be with a bed head, but he was radiant. His handsome features and ruffled hair made him even more jaw droppingly gorgeous than his usual refined princely self.

     “ _Stay calm Mari, you’re here to do your job. Not oggle at a very charming and enchanting prince that is entirely out of your league_.” She told herself as the prince walked toward her with a slightly exposed collar bone.

     She felt her cheeks grow warm as she hastily handed over his garments, “He left saying you didn’t need an audience for a final fitting.”

     His hand gently brushed against hers, “Well, thank you for your assistance. Let me finish getting dressed so you can perform it.”

     Marinette barely kept her composure but mustered up a decisive nod before practically melting once Prince Adrien disappeared behind the divider.

     He kept up a chipper tone and conversation with her the entire time he was behind the divider. Almost asking her to assist him with his breeches, but found a way to untangle his suspenders.

     When he stepped out once more he looked slightly more put together. Although his collar and sleeves remained untied, his shirt was completely tucked in and his suspenders were not twisted.

     Marinette instinctively took his hand and flipped it over. She started to tie into a small neat bow before realizing what she had done.

     “I-I am sorry your majesty that was rude of me.” Her face reddened out of embarrassment and let go of the bow.

     “You are quite alright. I never can tie them on my own so Nino usually has to fuss over me.” He said with an understanding smile and looked down at the neat bow, “However I have never had someone tie such a beautiful bow for me in a long time.”

     Now her face became a brighter red, “Th-thank you your majesty.”

     He held out his other hand to her, “I am very glad to see such a skilled person is assisting me in my dressing preparations. You tie bows much better than my manservant’s.”

     Marinette carefully tied another neat bow on his wrist, “You are far too kind your majesty.”

     He looked into her eyes and she froze, “But all I am saying is what is true.”

     Blinked away her shock before gesturing to his untied collar. He gave her a small nod and tilted his head back so she could tie it. She was barely keeping it together being in his presence but now that he was complimenting her she could was beginning to grow faint. She gently tied the bow and turned to pick up her measuring tape.

     She turned around to lock eyes with the prince once more and her heart skipped a beat.

     “Your majesty…”  
     “Yes?”  
     “Please turn so I might see if there are any last minute repairs to be done.”

     He gave he had a surprised sort of smile and obeyed her request. He held out his arms so she might inspect his clothes. He stood still as a stone statue only moving whenever a gentle hand guided his motions. He felt the gentle press of the tape measure across his back and an occasional pull on his shirt as the seamstress to inspect the quality of his seams.

     Marinette smiled at her handywork when she inspected her repaired seams, “Wonderful, everything so far has been intact.”

     “That is always good to hear, quality work from a skilled worker.” He said as he kept his head forward when she started to inspect a seam on his breeches.

     She pulled out a needle and thread and started to reinforce a loose bead on his pants. She anchored the bead successfully before accidentally stabbing her finger as he complimented her.

     “Ah.” she said quietly as she hastily pulled her hand toward her stomach and away from the expensive material.

     Prince Adrien heard her soft cry and turned around with a concerned look on his face, “Are you alright?”

     “Oh, it’s fine.” Marinette shook her head, “I do this all the time, your majesty.”

     He knelt down next to her, “Let me see your hand.”

     Marinette’s face grew flush, “Your majesty you need not to worry about me.”

     He held out his hand expectantly, “You are one of my subjects and it is my duty as your prince and future king to see that you are alright. So please, let me see your hand.”

     Reluctantly she held out her hand, on her index finger had a small amount of blood flowing out of it.

     “I told you your majesty it is nothing to worry about.” Marinette tried to pull her hand away gently but the prince held fast.

     "You are bleeding. That is something to worry about, let me put a bandage on it for you.”

     “That really is not necessary, your-”

     “I insist. And please, when there is no one about call me Adrien.” He said with a sparkle in his eye.

     She could not form a proper sentence after than moment. She simply nodded firmly and carefully pulled out some scrap cloth from her apron that Prince Adrien declined.

     “That will not be necessary, let me clean it properly, if you will allow me.”

     She nodded again trying not to squeak, and patiently waited for him to bandage the small wound for her. He carefully took a wet rag from his basin and clean cloth from his desk over to her. He gently dabbed away the blood which had significantly slowed down on its bleeding. After the excess blood was wiped away he carefully wrapped the finger in clean linen and tied a knot on the top of her finger.

     “There. Now you won’t worry about it bleeding anymore.”

     “Thank you, your- I mean, Adrien.” She quietly thanked her prince.

     He held out his hand to help her up, “It’s the least that I could do considering your hard work on this suit.”

     She graciously accepted it and blushed, “Well it was really nothing, all apart of a day’s work. And besides, now you are ready for the ball.”

     Adrien started to reply when a faint knock came from his door.

     Nino popped his head in, “Excuse me for the interruption, but I have received word that it is time for the Prince to attend the ball.”

     “I’ll be out in a moment.” Adrien dismissed him before placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, “Thank you again for your hard work, but duty calls.”

     Marinette blushed profusely as she bowed her head to him, “It was my pleasure, your majesty.”


	6. The Feast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about that unexpected hiatus. 
> 
> So, college is kinda insane when you’re unaccustomed to it. I ended up completely forgetting about this story because life gets in the way and I don’t have a bunch of time or motivation to write stuff all the time. I do this for fun when I can. 
> 
> However, I feel like chapter will be shorter than other chapters since I’m having to get back into writing the story and I didn’t really have a whole lot planned out for this next chapter. I feel like I’m also going to compress a lot of this story because there’s a bunch of unnecessary points I wrote out, that don’t actually serve a purpose to the main plot. And I actually want to give you guys closure and finish this. 
> 
> Again, I have to kinda reread my entire story to get back into the mindset of writing this but it will be done. I normally am way better at warning people about going on hiatus, but stuff happened. 
> 
> Thank you for your patience and also for writing messages that encourage me to keep writing. And catching my chapter errors when I don’t notice them. 
> 
> Shout out to Toraya for pointing out that this hiatus note would be a better way to address this instead of leaving it as a single chapter. I’m still relatively new to Archive of Our Own and don’t think of the features that allow me to post notes and have them begin at the beginning of a chapter instead of messing with chapter numbering.

     Prince Adrien walked down the hall, nervous as could be but standing tall in his glittering suit as servants passed him in the halls. Nino lead him down to the feast hall, right outside the door.

     He had been silent the entire trip but turned to him and spoke softly, “It may be out of line for me to say this, but I must. I don’t care if you royally screw up tonight. If you forget a step in a dance, chew too loudly, or insult someone important, none of it matters. This night is for you, so be merry, you need to let yourself be you outside of your chambers.”

     Prince Adrien smiled at him, “If only that was true I would laugh a little louder, smile a little wider and not care what the world thinks. But I don’t have that luxury. I have too many people counting on me to be their model, their perfect prince.”

     “Well-” Nino started to speak again when a rap on the door in front of them stopped him, “there’s your cue. Knock back when you are ready.”

     He bowed and took his leave to return to his other duties for the feast.

     Adrien took in a deep breath, straightened his roclare, adjusted his crown and rapped his knuckles on the door in response.

     The doors in front of him started to open and the feast’s lights poured into the hallway. Before his eyes were brightly colored people awaiting his arrival.

     The herald next to the door blew his trumpet loudly, drawing attention toward the prince as he announced, “INTRODUCING, HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, CROWN PRINCE OF THE AGRESTE LINE, PRINCE ADRIEN!”

     As he stepped into the grand hall the crowded room stopped and stared at him. The guest of honor had arrived and all the nobles around him had to take notice. Adrien flashed a charming smile and graciously continued into the room. He tried not to take notice that all eyes were on him, expectantly waiting for him to do something, make a speech or something. He simply nodded his head toward a few of the nobles closest to him and the room started to have a growing chatter. He felt a slight release of tension as the room’s attention was not entirely on him, but still, eyes everywhere were watching him. Adrien’s eyes scanned the room to see a recognizable face.

     Somehow his eyes caught a familiar red ribbon tying back beautiful black and blue hair. Marinette, a seamstress holding a tray with goblets and a pitcher on it. She cautiously maneuvered her way through the crowd to offer guest drinks, some obliged, others did not. She was suppose to be an invisible and unnoticeable hand working the room. But he knew she was out of place.

     He thought, _“Why is a tailor’s apprentice carrying trays around at a party?”_

     He started to make his way towards her, what harm could come of saying hello and grab a drink while he was at it. She looked up and they made eye contact, he started to smile and wave at her when his vision was obscured by a golden blur.

     “Arikins! So glad I found you.” Chloe smiled as she batted her eyes. “I thought you might have decided to have skipped the party.”

     Adrien was caught off guard but managed to regain his composure after being flustered. He didn’t expect to see his fiancee so soon into the party. But it was going to be inevitable, his eyes would have caught her in the crowd eventually, given how eye catching her dress was. It wasn’t gaudy but it was flashy. It was well made, heavily beaded and it had intricate embroidery all over the rose gold dress. The material itself was so shinny that the candle lights danced on it, catching the light and the eye. She wore a pearl necklace with a honey bee pendant attached to it. But something was new about her appearance, her hair was tied up in an elegant bun and she had a new hair comb in her hair.

     He really wanted to ask Marinette what she was doing at the party, but figured he could always ask her after tonight, so he flashed a charming smile as he said,  “I couldn’t miss this even if the world was crumbling.”

     Chloe wrapped herself around his arm, “I’m glad I mean so much to you. You know this party is all about us.”

     Adrien tried to not act surprised, “Of course, I originally thought it would be a simple celebration of your arrival.”

     The princess let out a shrill laugh that attracted the attention of several nobles around them, “Oh, Adrien! You certainly know how to charm a girl.”

     Noticing the unwanted attention he was getting because of his fiancee, he gently detached himself from her, “I was only speaking the truth.”

     She regained her composure and whipped out a golden fan, “And so modest. I am ever so glad you are to be mine. This will make tonight even more exciting. For both of our kingdoms.”

     “Wait, what do you mean?” Adrien inquired, “Is there something happening tonight?”

     “Oh you jest, of course you know what’s happening tonight,” she said as she gently fanned herself, “Even Lady Sabrina knows about it. Well of course she does, she is my Lady in waiting and there is hardly anything I wouldn’t tell her. Which I wonder where she ran off to...”

     Prince Adrien was beginning to become frustrated with being left out of the loop about the intent of this party. If it was important enough that his fiancee knew what was happening, it must not have been that big of a secret. He tried to ask her more about what was happening but was cut off by the heralds announcing to the hall that the feast was to begin shortly, prompting them to take their respective seats.

     He held out his hand to Princess Chloe, as any gentleman would do to escort a proper lady to her seat. She accepted with her open hand and held her head high as she walked next to Adrien. He walked toward the long table that was the focal point of the room. His father and King Bourgeois were already sitting when Adrien started walking toward the table.

 _“Great, you’ll probably be scolded for not getting to the table sooner after all this is over._ ” Adrien thought as he felt the tension in the air began to swell.

     It was a hanging weight that had been briefly lifted after he started to meander through the crowd of guests. But it did not go away completely, they looked at him as if he was a glass statue and they needed to tiptoe around him. As if he needed to be handled with caution and not be treated as a regular noble. He knew that he was a crown prince and it gave him status, but it was not enough to make him seem like he was capable of breaking at any moment.

     He cautiously walked around the table and stopped to allow Chloe to sit at her respective seat before he took his. Adrien looked out to the seated crowd as regally as he could, but could not get arid of the nagging feeling he had about this crowd, this night even.

     The servants started to move toward the table filling goblets and a light chatter started to fill the room. King Agreste held up a silencing and immobilizing hand when they started to bring out the food. The entire room seemed to hold their breath as he rose to his full and mighty height. His crown glistened with amethysts in the candle lit hall, his blue doublet and gold trim shimmered underneath his chain of office gleamed. Nothing was out of place on him. He was calm and poised, just like any regal king should be.

     He looked out to the crowd, scanning over them once before addressing the hall, “Welcome one and all. I am pleased to see so many good people from my kingdom and those from distant lands in one room. We have gathered together for a very special moment. I am most pleased to announce to you and the kingdom of Bourgeois, we will no longer live in fear. For we shall become stronger than ever before.”

     He gestured to his right, toward Adrien, and spoke with pride, “As many of you know, my son, Prince Adrien, has been betrothed to the lovely Princess Chloe for many years. It is now time to act upon this promised union. Every day the wicked enchanter, Hawk Moth, threatens our kingdom with his dark magic and demons. But he will no longer pose a threat with the combined power of our resources. A new house shall be born and we will reach new heights! For the promise of our future lies in the hands of our children. Our success lies in their union and together we will destroy this wicked sorcerer who has plagued our lands for far too long. That is why, on my beloved son’s sixteenth birthday, he and his fiancee shall become man and wife.”

     An audible gasp consumed the hall before being overtaken by thunderous applause.

     The nobility rejoiced and the king held up his hand once to silence the crowd once more but held a goblet in his other hand, “I only have one more thing to say, unfortunately keeping you from enjoying your meal. Nevertheless, I propose a toast. To the future union of our kingdoms, our children, to their future prosperity and everlasting love. To Princess Chloe and Prince Adrien.”

     The crowd chanted back, “To Princess Chloe and Prince Adrien!”

     Adrien held his goblet full of weak wine in front of him and whispered to himself, “To a thousand years of sleep.”

* * *

 

     After hearing the announcement, proclaimed by the king, Marinette almost dropped her tray. Her hands shook as she tried to maintain her composure as to not try and cause a scene. She knew this day would have eventually come to pass. She knew that her prince was never really going to be hers. But she was allowed to dream. She could think fondly of him, thinking of fantasies where she was the princess he was betrothed to instead the stuck up brat. She could waste an entire day thinking of a day where he would offer her his hand or completely throw away his title and castle to be with her.

     Now all of those dreams had been shattered.

     She fought back tears as the room chanted, “To Princess Chloe and Prince Adrien!”

     Marinette rushed out of the room as the goblets were lowered. She dropped her tray and pitcher as she ran. It clattered an echoed through the halls for no one but herself to hear. Everyone else was at the party so why should she care? The floodgates had opened, no one else was around to hear her cries of anguish and heartache as her soft soled shoes pattered through the castle halls towards its lower levels, where she found comfort and knew she wouldn’t be easily found. She only stopped running when she found herself inside the familiar tailor’s room, sinking down to the floor she wailed, letting her feelings gush out.

     Tikki cautiously peered out of Marinette’s apron pocket and gently said, “It’s alright, everything's going to be okay.”

     “How can it?” Marinette said as Tikki fluttered up to her face and gently wiped away some of her tears, “The one person I care about more than anything in the world is getting married to a stuck up princess who only likes him because he gives her status. I knew this day would come, but never would I have expected to have this happen so soon. Any hope I had of being with him is pointless now.”

     “As soon as you lose hope, that is when darkness creeps in.” Tikki stroked Marinette’s face, “If we give into darkness and despair then our judgement becomes clouded. It is okay to feel this pain, but we alway have to have hope. Yes, the events to have Adrien married off to someone else are underway, but that does not mean that you cannot still have a relationship with him.”

     “So you’re saying to try and win him over?” Marinette dried her tears.

     “I don’t think he is happy to have Chloe as his bride,” Tikki spoke honestly. “But I don’t know if he will be able to cancel the wedding. I think that even if you can’t be with him romantically, you can at least support him as a friend and your future king.”

     “Oh…” Marinette’s eyes started watering again, “I shouldn’t be so upset, he is a prince and I am a peasant. He would never go for someone as expendable as I am.”  
     She felt a hard smack on her cheek from a very angry fairy, “Marinette Dupain! You are not expendable! You are generous and kind to those around you, and would do anything for people even if it meant slaving away for hours and finishing the dress that the Princess decided she didn’t want to wear. Even after threatening you! You wanted to make Adrien’s night the best night possible, and did it for him. You are plenty good enough but sometimes you think you’re some insignificant tailor’s apprentice. But you’re wrong, you are so much more!”

     The fiery fairy took a deep breath and regained her composure, “You are brave and protect the people of this land without so much as a thank you. You are Ladybug, hero of the people, and you are definitely good enough for any prince.”

     “Ladybug is respected and honored by the people, not a baker’s daughter. I don’t think having all the luck in the world will allow me to win over Adrien. I’m not her all the time. I just have to face the painful reality that this world would never allow us to be together. I will never get the chance to be someone dear in his eyes since the queen of the hive has been granted a wedding date. It just hurts…”

     “I believe in you, you are Ladybug no matter what. You have a heroic spirit and the desire to do what’s best for people around you. That never changes, with or without magic.”

     “Thank you, Tikki… But I just need some time to think and process all of this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy, this took far too long for me to finish writing. The last bit with Mari was really difficult to try and figure out how to make this work and be more organic. I what took me forever was to try and make it so that Tikki comforted Mari but didn't just wrap it up like nothing is wrong. I was trying to find a good ending to this chapter that would help resolve some issues, but that’s when I realized that I couldn’t just do that. I have to let Mari suffer despite having a good friend comfort her. I mean, heartbreak isn’t easy.
> 
> This chapter was so much shorter than I had expected, but it does what it needs to do. A distraught and stressed prince, a heartbroken apprentice, an imminent curse/wedding. There’s not much else I could add. 
> 
> Anyways.Hurrah for turning points in stories! And also remember that you write stories.


	7. Not Your Average Wedding Preparations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What’s this? I never posted this completed chapter? Egads!
> 
> I hope you enjoy the next chapter in this fan fiction that I’m taking far too long to write.

It had been several weeks since the unexpected ordeal Prince Adrien was thrown into. Now most of his days had been consumed by wedding preparations and his usual princely duties. To make matters more stressful, the Princess had taken up a permanent residence in the Agrest Castle, making the rest of the castle more agitated and stressed. Not only did they have a demanding royal in their presence, but they also had to prepare for a wedding.

Prince Adrien had barely anytime to himself, let alone any to try and talk to those who we was to lead. He had genuinely tried to sneak away to the tailor’s workshop to see Marinette. He didn’t see her at all the rest of the feast and still wondered why she was working with everyone else that night. Perhaps his father told Natalie that everyone had to be involved it. Who knows what her next role would be in the upcoming ceremony. He didn’t like to think of it as a wedding. For him it was just another superficial royal appearance. If he was going to be married, he would be able to look into the eyes of the person before him and feel something. When he looks at Chloe, his longest friend and fiance there’s nothing magical between them. There was no shared self made bond that kept them together, it was the will of others that made them be together.

When he was done with his history lesson for the day, he walked alone down an empty hall lost in thought. That is until something drew him out from it.

“Having fun, your highness?” a familiar voice called from the ceiling. 

The prince looked up to see Plagg resting on a beam enjoying a slice of Camembert.

“I have no time for your heckling, unless it is important, leave me be in my silence,” he snapped at the imp as he stood impatiently below him.

“Oooo!” Plagg floated down with his cheese to eye level with Adrien, “Someone is having a rough couple of weeks.” 

Adrien gave him a sharp look before continuing his walk down the hall, “You are wasting my time.” 

The imp chuckled as he followed the irritable prince, “You are starting to sound just like your father, so brash and concise. You’ll make an excellent king.”

“That is if I have a kingdom to govern after 1000 years of sleep.” 

“Come on, you haven’t found someone that has lit a spark inside of you? The one who will come to you on your birthday and give you a good luck kiss?”

Adrien rolled his eyes, “You and I both know well enough that since my birthday has now become a wedding anniversary, that I haven’t been able to do much. Let alone find true love to break my curse.” 

“Except when your ‘beloved’ betrothed throws a fit and hurts someones feelings more than usual you’re able to not be yourself.” Plagg floated into him to give a friendly nudge, “That’s when you see your lady.”

“What? No, you jest.” Adrien laughed as he tried to brush off Plagg’s comment, “Ladybug is not-well I do call her my lady. But that’s just a pet name I gave her, like her calling me chaton. It’s what we do.”

Plagg let out a groan and flew in front of Adrien’s face, “Listen, you love Ladybug. It’s pretty clear to me, so I don’t see why it isn’t clear to you.” 

“Love her? I mean I admire her greatly. She’s strong, intelligent, wonderful and kind. Not to mention radiant no matter what she is doing. Even in combat, when our lives and the kingdom’s well being are at stake.” He shook his head and gently pushed past the imp, “But I don’t think that’s the love I need to have the curse broken.”

Plagg pursued the topic as he took a bite of cheese, “Listen, you know how I think about Camembert all the time. Like I can’t get enough of this stuff. When my mind wanders and thinking of random things, it will eventually find its way to it. This delectable smelly goodness makes me happy to think about and I wouldn’t want to live in a world without it.”

“Are you trying to compare your obsession with Camembert with me thinking Ladybug is a wonderful person?”

“Love comes in all shapes and sizes. Mine come in wheels and smells of sweet ripeness. But yours, yours my friend comes in combat and wears red and black polka dots.” Plagg shrugged as he devoured the last of his cheese, “Food for thought, as you stress over your imminent situation.”

Adrien started to reply but the imp was gone in a puff of green smoke leaving the prince alone in the hall in front of his bedroom door. He reached for the handle, opened the door and went inside of his own personal sanctuary. 

His room was his own personal kingdom where he had no restrictions and could do whatever he wanted. Well, within reason without being caught. It was here he didn’t hide himself behind any masks. He could be both Chat Noir, the crown prince and just Adrien. He flopped onto his bed and anxious thoughts crept into his mind. Things of how the wedding was going to go, how many more akuma’s would be caused by his fiancee’s insistence on perfection and becoming more harsh to those around her. He knew that true love would not have him have to constantly apologize for the other person. For there would be nothing to apologize for. They would be a person of such good heart and deed, that would be seen as just that by everyone. Someone like Ladybug. 

Adrien sat straight up in bed at this thought and Plagg’s words echoed in his mind.

“I couldn’t, I don’t really know who she is.” Adrien whispered to himself, “Besides, I don’t think she sees me in that light. We playfully flirted with one another, but did she mean those words I do? I know that she doesn’t see me as I see her because her heart belongs to another. True love’s kiss have to go both ways.”

He jumped at the sounds of his door being knocked upon. 

“You may enter.” He said as he straightened his clothes.

In came his man servant, his eyes were heavy and looked as if it took every ounce of his will to move. 

“You look like hell.” The prince jumped up from his bed, concerned for his friend, “What have you been doing all today?”

Nino sat down on a nearby stool, “Assisting our soon permanent guest. Lady Sabrina had me take her about the castle to sort of teach her the ropes and have me show her almost every task possible. For example, she insisted that I help pull water out of a well. And by help I mean, once I start to lift the bucket out of the well she does nothing to assist me. Then make me carry all the buckets of water to help fill her highness’s bath. Just so she could sit in a tub of water and relax for the day. I have been doing twice the normal work that I have expected in the most unexpected fashion.”

“I am truly sorry that you got roped into that. I assure you I will not let this happen again.” 

Nino waved off the prince’s concerns, “It is alright, my reasons for coming here were not to complain about serving our future queen, but to retrieve you from your summons.”

“My summons?” Prince Adrien raised an eyebrow.

“Her highness mentioned something about cake and seeing what will be be the best one or something?” He tried to recall. 

“The cake tasting.” Prince Adrien said with a straight face concealing the fact that he forgot, “That is today.”

“Right, well, I am suppose to take you to see the man who has made you your potential cakes.” 

“Don’t you want to rest?”

“Worry not about me, I’ll be fine. Princess Chloe insisted that you come as soon as possible.”

“If you insist, then lead the way, my friend.” 

Nino took a deep breath and got up from the stool looking a tad bit more refreshed and lead the Prince down the halls and to two large wooden doors. 

As Nino opened on of them, Adrien heard Plagg’s voice in his head, with words of reassurance, “Well, at least you’ll get to eat some cake.”

* * *

 

“Your highnesses, let me present to you several samples of cake flavors as well as examples of my ability to decorate.”  Monsieur Dupain bowed as he presented a table of cake samples to his prince and his fiancee. 

Monsieur Tom Dupain was so proud to stand before the future rulers of this kingdom and offer them a slice of his work. The royal baker had overheard someone who was raving about the Dupain’s baking skills and how a local baker made a better cake for his daugher to share with her friends than the royal baker had made specially for the prince. Outraged but curious by this statement, the royal baker marched over to the bakery to find the truth. He had been upset by careless words, but was soothed once he tasted a sweet confectionery from this simple baker’s shop. The royal baker insisted that the Dupain Bakery should present their finest cakes to the crown as samples for their royal wedding cake. If he his cakes satisfied the taste buds of the prince and princess it meant that he, Tom Dupain, would officially be a royal baker. 

The baker wore his finest blue chemise, brown pants and a freshly cleaned apron with his lucky tasting spoon hidden in his pocket. He was extra careful not to have flour get onto them as his wife, Sabine, fussed over his appearance all morning before he had to run off to the castle. He wanted more than anything to make his wife and daughter proud. 

Prince Adrien and his manservant, Nino, looked excited for this particular activity, Monsieur Dupain could only imagine what it would be like to take a break and just enjoy some sweet treats for a while in the chaos that had become the planning of the prince’s wedding. He knew Nino loved his food and he was certain the prince would like his food… however the crown Princess of Bourgeois would be more difficult to appease. He had heard from his daughter how poorly she liked to treat those with a lower sation to her. He told Marinette to simply push through it and make the best of each encounter, but began to understand why his daughter held great disdain towards her. 

Princess Chloe stood beside her fiance and gently fanned herself with a gold fan, keeping herself cool in a brilliantly luxurious green and gold dress. Her lady in waiting stood behind her with a small and ornate basket to hold her things. Monsieur Dupain thought perhaps little trinkets were kept in there, but was uncertain about what else might lay inside.

The princess looked at the table with a judgmental gaze, “We shall see if your baking is truly as good as I have been told.”

She snapped her fan shut and held it out expectantly, where the red haired lady in waiting obediently took her fan and replaced it with a personal fork. Monsieur Dupain assumed that this must have been “the queen bee’s right hand” which was what his daughter nicknamed Lady Sabrina. 

“I am simply honored that I might be able to serve to you my baking,” Monsieur Dupain smiled patiently with the princess as he cut a small slice into his first cake. “The first cake I have prepared is a chocolate cake with raspberry jam in the center and chocolate frosting.”

He cut out four slices, presenting the first two to the prince and princess then the other two to Nino and Lady Sabrina. Prince Adrien looked at the small piece with glee as he carefully cut his slice into a smaller piece. When the fork met his mouth Monsieur Dupain could see the prince’s eyes light up with delight. 

“This is amazing!” He began to eat more with vigor, “It is so sweet and so well balanced with the flavors of chocolate and raspberries.” 

However the princess was less excited. 

She daintily put her honey bee fork into the cake. She look one bite of the cake and made a disgusted face, “Adrikins, have your tastebuds gone numb? This is awful. There’s too much cocoa in it and not enough raspberries. Not to mention that this cake is dry and the icing is overpowering.

“I don’t think that it could be that bad, your highness,” Lady Sabrina quietly commented as she stared at her slice of cake. 

Princess Chloe knocked the plate out of her hand and onto the floor, “I cannot stand by and let my lady-in-waiting eat such horrendous food!”

Monsieur Dupain was mortified by the harsh words that the princess had said about his food. Had everyone else simply glorified his skills in an attempt to make him feel better? He felt a heavy weight creep into his heart, but he snapped out of it when he heard a regal voice echo throughout the chamber.

“THAT IS ENOUGH!” The prince’s voice exploded just as his father’s did when it silenced a crowd.

The room was dead silent as everyone stared at the irritated prince, “You will not treat my subjects in such a demeaning manner for no other reason than you wanting to be spiteful.”

The princess fumbled for her words and muttered, “I just want our wedding to be perfect…”

Prince Adrien took a deep breath and looked at her with a calm sincerity, “I am sorry, I should not have yelled. That was uncalled for. I know you are stressed about the wedding and wanting everything to be perfect, but you cannot take out your frustrations on those who are trying to do their jobs to make the day as magical as possible. Now, no one is going to knock any more cake out of anyone’s hands and we will try the rest of the cakes that this kind man has brought for us to sample.”

The princess almost looked ashamed of what she had done, almost. Her pained eyes were not quite convincing enough to have him believe that the princess was sorry for humiliating the baker.   
She sighed dramatically, “I suppose I will live if I try pieces of your cake. But I don’t want to eat too much, bad cake makes me feel absolutely terrible.”

The prince held his composure the best that he could. Monsieur Dupain could see that the poor boy had been dealing with her childish behavior for a long time now and this had been the tipping point. 

He smiled to Monsieur Dupain and said, “May I try your other cakes?”

The rest of the tasting went well. Monsieur Dupain felt that it was partially due to Prince Adrien’s commanding voice that silenced most of the commentary, that was until the end of the ordeal. The prince and princess stepped to the side, prompted by the prince so they could discuss which cake they liked the best. At first it started out calm but it soon escalated. 

“Adrien.” Princess Chloe gritted her teeth as she raised her voice, “I will not have some pauper making cakes for our wedding!”

“He would become a royal baker! No one of noble blood is a baker so I do not see why you are making a big deal about it.” The prince said in exasperation, “If I had shown you these cakes and told you that the royal baker made them you would have had no problems with them.”

“I would be able to easily identify the difference between these, these… mud pies and the finest baking in the land!” The princess exclaimed and turned her direction directly at Monsieur Dupain. “Your baking is awful and I would never dare eat it again. I would not even have it touch the lips of most hated enemy or their dogs it is so vile! Your skill has been outrageously exaggerated and I will not have some dim witted idiot making cakes for  _ my _ wedding!”

She stomped out of the room with Lady Sabrina following quickly behind the tantrum throwing princess. The door slammed behind them and the four men stood in silence. 

The prince was the first one to speak, “You must excuse her atrocious behavior. Unfortunately even I cannot justify why she decided to be so malicious towards you.”

Monsieur Dupain tried to keep his head tall and his voice steady. It wasn’t every day that a princess yelled at you and reduced your hours of hard labor, your very craft to that of mud pies. 

“You both must be under a lot of stress,” he bowed to the prince, “I understand that my cakes will never be selected for your wedding.”

Monsieur Dupain looked to the royal baker, “Thank you for giving me this opportunity to formally present my work to his highness.”

“Monsieur Dupain…” the royal baker started to speak but was cut off.

“There is no need, I will burden you with my presence no longer. I have a business to go and attend to.”

“Monsieur Dupain, I am sorry for how my fiancee behaved, I honestly thought your cakes were delicious. But I don’t see that there will be a way for me to convince her to change her mind about having you be our baker. Take your leave as you will, I unfortunately have little time to do something right now, but something will be done.”

He could see the prince trying to find the right words to comfort a poor man’s crushed dreams. His frustration in his furrowed brow, the hesitation in his words and his tense shoulders. 

Monsieur Dupain simply nodded in acceptance of his apology as he bowed again before leaving the castle. 

As he walked out of the castle, dread started to creep into his mind. What was he going to tell his sweet Sabine? His wife and daughter who were elated to hear that his cakes were going to be tasted by the prince and princess. They both encouraged him as he labored away on cakes, tirelessly baking and decorating each cake to make sure that they each were perfect. But all of this was for nothing. One of his cakes was thrown on the ground and the princess practically refused to taste any of them. 

The words “mud pies” echoed in his head as he walked out of the courtyard and out of the castle walls. He reached into his pocket and looked at his lucky spoon in grief. His father said that it had always brought him luck because it was the spoon he always used to taste his cake batters. That way he would know if the cake would turn out perfectly. Why now, after all these years did this spoon fail him?

It was then that a small black and purple butterfly fluttered towards him. It was as if it had been waiting for him to walk out of the castle’s protective walls. It circled around the distraught baker before gracefully landing on his spoon. As it’s delicate legs touched the spoon, it’s exploded into a flash of dark purple, enveloping the spoon into a purple energy. A pink energy in the shape of a butterfly mask appeared hovering in front of Monsieur Dupain’s face.

“Count Icing… I am the powerful sorcerer, Hawkmoth. You were refuted by the princess due to your status, but now you have rank and power. Use your new found gift to become what you desire. All I ask is a simple favor in return for giving you this gift. The so called heroes Ladybug and Chat Noir have stolen power from me, you must get it back.” 

“If it means bringing justice for me, I will do anything.” Monsieur Dupain grinned and tightly gripped his lucky spoon. 

The dark energy bubbled up from the spoon engulfing him. When the energy finally dispersed, the curse had been cast upon the poor man. Desperation and anger changed his very appearance and it was not a lovely sight. His hair became a white fluffy frosting, swirled to a tip on his mustache and on the top of his head. His modest peasant clothes transformed into a rich red velvet with dark brown accents made out of chocolate. He held in his hand a scepter that resembled a spoon, but it was now lavishly engraved and heavily accented with candied rubies. 

He waved his scepter and flew into the air above the castle, “I will show that princess what a true baker can do!”

He pointed it at the main gate and with a bolt of magic wrapped licorice vines sealed the gate shut preventing anyone from coming in our out. He cackled maniacally as flew over the castle wall and cast a spell on the barracks and stables transforming them into gingerbread. He landed down next to the them and snapped off a piece of the sable and popped it into his mouth. 

He smiled as he continued toward the main entrance to the castle, “Ah, baked to perfection.” 

All around him castle workers hid behind barrels and around corners. Any guards that came near him were turned into chocolate statues. Stray shots transformed carriages into rock candies, barrels into gumdrops and weapon racks into lollipops. 

Count Icing strutted over to the inner gate, leading toward the main hall bellowing, “I desire an audience with Princess Chloe!”

He pointed his scepter at the door and blasted it with magic transforming it into peanut brittle. With a swift flick of his wrist, licorice sprouted from the sides of the door and smashed it open, leaving a rather large opening to allow the curse baker to leisurely walk in. 


	8. The Great Kingdom Bake Off

It was difficult to not hear the sounds of screams outside of the castle. Prince Adrien and Nino had parted ways with the Princess and her lady in waiting to avoid further conflict. They had happened to walk towards the main hall when they heard a crackling sound of wall being transfigured then felt something like a battering ram shake the castle.

“Adrien-” Nino looked to his prince with utmost concern. 

“Another Akuma I suppose” the prince looked at his friend and nodded. “You need to make sure you get somewhere safe.”  
“I need to make sure you stay safe.” Nino shook his head, “We don’t know if it wants to attack you or not.” 

Prince Adrien peered around the corner to see the main hall covered in debris of the main hall’s door. However he was surprised to see that instead of wood splinters and sawdust covering the floor, chunks of peanut brittle and licorice vines clawing their way into the door. In the center of the room was something out of a fairytale, a man who was dressed as a noble but appeared to be made of candy.

“Something tells me that my fiancee is the one he’s after.” 

“How can you tell?” Nino started to peer around the corner but was stopped by the prince. 

“Call it a hunch.” He brushed off the question before becoming austere towards his dear friend. “She will need more help than me. I can get to my tower from here without being spotted. But Chloe doesn't know she’s in danger. I know you can run fast enough to catch up to her, and get her to go in the opposite direction of the main hall. Just tell her I will be waiting somewhere for her and want to talk to her and she will go without a fuss.”

“But I-” Nino tried to protest but a chunk of peanut brittle was flung towards them. 

“I am waiting! Where is the Princess? I have a gift for her, it will be the perfect wedding cake!” The akuma howled.  

The prince used this distraction to bolt across the way and hide behind the stone handrail. He silently motioned to Nino to start running in the other direction. The man servant gave him an exasperated look before sighing in defeat. He gave the prince a definitive nod before running off in the opposite direction of the conflict. 

Prince Adrien watched as his friend disappeared around the corner he began to creep behind the handrail to the other side of the hall. He made it safely across the way without the akuma spotting him. In fact the main hall had become eerily quiet. 

But the prince shook it off as nerves as he whispered into his ring, “Plagg, now would be a good time to show up” 

“All you have to do is ask,” the imp appeared from the shadows with a sly grin on his face.

“Transform me!” the prince proclaimed and quickly transformed into the vigilante Chat Noir.

He bounded into the main hall with great gusto and a pun on the tip of his tongue, only to fall flat on his entrance. The hall was a mess but there was no one in there except himself. He hopped down from the second floor to examine any possible clues on where the akuma had gone off. He was almost certain that it was the baker, Monsieur Dupain, who became the victim of the curse this time. He spotted some footprints in the peanut brittle dust and began to follow them. As he raced down the hall following the trail of candy themed destruction, he couldn’t help but blame himself for not being able to do more for the man. If only he had been able to prevent Chloe from saying such terrible things, then someone else wouldn’t be cursed.

He rounded a corner and saw his fiancee and her lady in waiting calmly walking down the hall, completely oblivious to the destruction occurring in the castle. 

Princess Chloe was casually speaking to Lady Sabrina, “I mean, can you believe that Adrien would even consider bringing a peasant baker into the castle and present  _ me _ food? And of course it was that mousey little tailor’s apprentice father. That pathetic excuse for food was-”

“Excuse me your highness, it seems to me that you may be lost and tip toeing right past danger,” Chat Noir cleared his throat to let them know his presence. 

Lady Sabrina let out a small yelp of surprise, but Princess Chloe turned and gave him an unimpressed glance. 

“So I finally get to meet this kingdom’s vigalantee. I was hoping to be graced by Ladybug’s presence first. But I suppose you can save the best for last.” 

She looked him up and down before giving him a false smile, “As future queen of this castle and kingdom, I will ask you one time. Why is there a feral tomcat lurking in my castle?”

Adrien managed to keep a straight face under his mask as she acted so critically towards him. His blood was boiling as he overheard her continue to speak ill of the baker. But more so that it seemed her actions were caused by her disdain towards his daughter.  

He puffed up his chest and proudly stood “There is an akuma coming after you right now and I am here to help you get to safety before I go and break his gingerbread house.” 

Princess Chloe looked at him and burst out laughing, “Oh you’ve got to be joking, I can just call up the castle guards right now and they will protect me better than you could.” 

Chat Noir’s shoulders deflated and he became more irritated. He started to rebuttal but heard the voice of the akuma calling out for the princess.

He pushed aside his frustration with his fiancee, drew out his baton and took a fighting stance. 

“If you don’t want my protection, at least run to the guards that will offer you better security. I, on the other hand, will buy you some time and fend him off.” 

“Your highness, we should go,” Lady Sabrina urged the princess to leave. 

Princess Chloe turned up her nose and started to walk away with purpose, “Fine. But only because I can no longer stand the presence of this vagabond. He is bound only to bring me more trouble.” 

Lady Sabrina looked to Chat Noir and gave him a quick and appreciative smile as she hurried along to escort her princess to her safe room.

* * *

 

Marinette had narrowly avoided being caught in the crossfire of the new Akuma that suddenly appeared in the castle’s courtyard. She had been hiding behind a stack of barrels until they turned into a pile of giant gumdrops. She did not dare to make a sound as the candied chaos erupted around her. There was only so much she could do in such an exposed area. If she transformed there was a chance that someone might get a glimpse at the less epic identity of the Miraculous Ladybug. She waited until the dangerous confectioner blasted his way into the castle before following. 

She rushed her way over to the servants entrance and ducked into an empty corner and quickly transformed with a splash of pink light. Ladybug bounded through the castle hallways trying to discern the identity of newly cursed akuma. She followed the path of destruction through the main hall and down a corridor until she found herself rushing into a grand hall. The two large doors that once stood as a barricade were knocked off the hinges and lay in a pile of gingerbread rubble. 

As she bounded over the debris she noticed the entire room had been transformed into a candy wonderland. The window glass had been replaced with sugar panes and held in place by black licorice. The tables and benches around the room had become various types of chocolate. The drapes seemed to have the same consistency as thinned out gummy bears and randomly scattered about the room were oversized lollipops.

But these were not the strangest things that were in the room. What was more bizarre was an ornate but unfinished peppermint bark sculpture in the center of the room. It was a fascinating display for a cage, the outside of it was covered in sharp and gagged peppermint shards that made it a horrible idea to try and touch it, that was unless you wanted to simulate the effects of making contact with a very prickly bramble bush. It had a sturdy base like a tree and in the center of the trunk was a sphere surrounded by the prickly peppermint bars. However inside this bared opening was a smooth dark chocolate inside. That and a very cross princess and her panicking lady in waiting. 

Hovering around the sculpture was the cursed man who was continuing to add more touches to the spectacular chocolate creation and talked to his prisoners, “Now it will only be a short while until you will have the most magnificent cake for your royal wedding. The secret to a perfect cake is to make it with honey. Or at least a princess who pretends to be the queen of a hive she does not have.” 

Ladybug ducked behind one of the tables as Princess Chloe shouted indignantly, “Release me at once! This is by order of your future queen! Do you hear me?”

“Of course. It just had to be you that I have to save.” Ladybug muttered irritably to herself as she peered over the white chocolate table. 

She scanned the room again to see if her partner had shown up yet. If he was here the cage wouldn’t be a problem. He could destroy it in a heartbeat with a cataclysm. But there was something about the sculpture that was familiar to her. She just couldn’t figure out what it was.

And when she least expected it the roguish hero came smashing through one of the sugar pane windows. His cape fluttering in the wind and his staff being held like a lance as he soared through the air with catlike grace. He landed on top of an adjacent chocolate table and pointed is weapon at the Akuma. 

“ Monsieur Dupain! You don’t have to do this, let the princess go and we can talk about this like sensible people!” He shouted 

Ladybug’s heart stopped and she bit her tongue to prevent herself from shouting, “Papa!” But she knew that she could not. Her Papa was not in his right mind and she couldn’t recklessly reveal her identity in the middle of battle. 

“I am no longer that unaccomplished man, I am now Count Icing, a refined, noble and feared man!” He turned to face Chat Noir and pointed his scepter at him launching a hailstorm of sugar cubes, “Talking does nothing! My actions will give me justice for how I have been wronged! My confectionary genius will not be stopped by the likes of you.” 

Chat Noir deftly dodged the dangerous sugar cubes and found himself leaping behind the same white chocolate table that she was hiding behind. 

“What a lovely surprise! When did you get here, my lady?” He flashed a charming smile. 

“Just before you made an entrance, I was trying to figure out how to sneak up on him without him noticing to be able to purify the akuma.” She said quickly ducking as a glob of icing was thrown towards the table and splattered next to them. 

“Where do you think his akuma is?” Chat Noir said as he flipped the table to give them better cover. 

Without looking she went and said with confidence, “It’s in his scepter, notice how it’s shaped like a spoon when the rest of him has been transformed to appear candy like, that has to be it.”

Their cover began to chip away as sharp sprinkles smashed into it.

Without saying a word both of them knew what needed to be done. They rolled away from the table right before it exploded covering the room in chunks of white chocolate and sprinkles. Ladybug grabbed the Count’s attention by shouting and throwing a broken piece of gingerbread at him. Chat Noir rushed over to the sculpture to try and remove the leverage he had over the two heroes. Unfortunately their initial plan did not work as well as they had thought. 

“No so fast, no cats are allowed near my work.” Count Icing laughed as he launched a glob of gooey caramel at Chat Noir. 

While he was able to dodge most of the strike it was not enough. His lower half and one of his arms became lodged in a caramel cast anchoring him to the floor.

Ladybug used this opportunity to launch her yoyo at the count and try and disarm him. But found that he had an iron grip on scepter. 

“ _ Of course he would, it’s his lucky spoon. _ ” she thought to herself as he yanked her off the ground throwing her into a cluster of lollipops. 

“LADYBUG!” Chat Noir shouted as she crumpled into a heap and one of the lollipops fell over her. 

Her head was foggy from the impact but she tried to get up. However she felt herself pinned down by the debris on top of her. She looked up to see Count Icing hover above her with a purple butterfly outline hovering over his face. She started to squirm in panic, there were only a few times in which she had seen this occur and it was she or Chat were dangerously close to their miraculouses being taken away from them. She couldn’t just give up, not now. Not on her Papa. 

She looked over to Chat Noir who was also struggling to free himself. He made eye contact with her and he must have seen the fear on her face because he didn’t hesitate.

He proudly shouted, “Cataclysm!” as he summoned his dark destructive energy and slammed his free hand onto the imprisoning caramel glob.

It exploded raining smaller globs all around him, and one smacked Count Icing’s hand  as he reached toward Ladybug’s earrings.

He spun wildly and cast a glob of whipped cream at Chat Noir, “Excuse me, but shouldn’t you be waiting your turn to have your power stripped from you?”

Count Icing began to chase after Chat Noir giving Ladybug enough time to wiggle her arms free to throw her yoyo into the air, wrap around a support beam above her and pull herself free. 

Once she had regained proper footing she shouted, “Lucky Charm!” and threw her yoyo into the air summoning something that would help her beat her cursed father.

A red and black polka dot bag labeled cinnamon fell into her arms and she raised an eyebrow, “What am I supposed to do with this?” 

Ladybug looked around the room quickly identifying a giant lollipop with a bent stem that could be used like a handle, an intact table, Count Icing and her new found bag of cinnamon. She quickly picked up the giant green lollipop, which was much easier to carry than she had expected and began to run straight for Count lcing. 

“Are you trying to whip me into shape with candy? I think that only works when you’re trying to sweeten some cream.” Chat Noir threw out an insult as he dodged a rather large orange gumdrop. 

She gave Chat Noir little warning as she threw her candy shield over to him. He caught it with ease, but this caused Count Icing to shift his attention to the person who threw the cover. This is exactly what she needed him to do.

“Maybe you should spice up your cakes, try some cinnamon!” She shouted right as he made eye contact with her. 

The bag hit him in the chest and exploded, engulfing him in a cloud of cinnamon and blinding him. As he coughed to try and expel the cloud of cinnamon, Ladybug threw her yoyo and wrapped it around his ankle before diving underneath and swiftly over the table. With a hard yank she managed to pull him out of the cinnamon cloud and slam onto the floor. 

“ _ Sorry Papa. _ ” she winced as she heard him smack on the floor. 

She looked over her shoulder to see Chat Noir diving for the scepter that got knocked out of his hand. Chat grabbed the scepter and successfully rolled away before breaking it over his knee. 

Ladybug quickly retracted her yoyo to purify the akuma. She caught the purple butterfly with ease and released a radiant white butterfly. She picked up the remnants of her lucky charm and threw it into the air, cleansing the land from the effects of the curse. A pinkish glow engulfed the bag and exploded into a bunch of tiny ladybugs that flew throughout the castle transforming the candy wonderland back to its original state. 

The ladybugs flurried around Count Icing reverting him back into his normal Monsieur Dupain form. He stood up shaking his head, trying to recall what had just happened. Ladybug tired her very best not to hug her father, to give him comfort after being used like a puppet. She couldn’t imagine what it was like for him. Did he know what he was doing? Did he have control to do as he pleased?

She started to reach out to him when she was interrupted by a rather presumptuous voice.

“Oh my goodness! It is actually you. The fabled heroic lady of the land who’s bravery is well know.” Princess Chloe paused and raised an eyebrow at Chat Noir, “Where your shadow causes mayhem.”

Ladybug took a deep breath and smiled for the princess, “I am flattered that someone as respectable as you knows of the good work that Chat Noir and I do together.” 

Princess Chloe approached her and let out a shrill laugh as she pushed aside Chat Noir, “Oh you are too much! Such a silly thing you are, you truly are the hero of this land. This rogue you associate with regularly steals horses and causes destruction wherever he goes. Like someone else who dared to try and kidnap a princess.” 

Monsieur Dupain looked down in shame, unable to speak. 

Princess Chloe looked smugly as she saw the baker’s shame, “Perhaps you will learn your lesson if I throw you into the dungeons.”  
“Wait!” Ladybug said without thinking.She couldn’t just let her Papa rot in a cell after all he’s been through, “It wasn’t his fault.”

The princess looked taken back by her words, “What do you mean, he tried to kidnap me and bake me into a wedding cake!”

“Your highness, I understand being upset about being kidnapped,” Ladybug carefully thought out her words, “However you know, like many others in this kingdom, he fell victim of a terrible curse. Shouldn’t you be more focused on finding the sorcerer who cursed him and ending the plight? The plight that is harming the people you keep proudly proclaiming as your future subjects.”

She looked over to her Papa and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, “What good will come out of placing this man in jail for being used as a puppet?”

“Hrm…” Princess Chloe contemplated for a moment, “You make a reasonable point. He shall not be thrown in the dungeon this day for the crimes against the crown.” 

Monsieur Dupain’s eyes lit up and he quickly bowed to the princess, “Thank you, your highness.” He turned to Ladybug and smiled, “And I will not forget your kindness despite the horrible things I had done today.” 

Ladybug smiled and started to speak however her miraculous let out a small beep. 

She quickly grabbed one of her earrings in shock, “All is forgiven, however I do apologize, I must take my leave-”  
She was cut off by Chat Noir’s ring giving off the same warning. 

“As do I, your highness.” Chat Noir gave a nervous smile as he also instinctively covered his miraculous, “Another day, My Lady?”

Ladybug lowered her hand and smiled to her partner, “Whenever duty calls.” 

She gave the impish cat a quick wink before running out of the room to hide before her miraculous transformation ran out.

* * *

 

Chat Noir’s heart skipped a beat. Did Ladybug really just wink at him? He was so dazed that he barely heard the second warning. 

As he shook off his shock he turned to his fiancee, “One more thing before I go. Princess, please don’t forget what Ladybug said. If you want to truly be the queen of these people you cannot demand their respect. You must earn it.” 

She let out an indignant huff, “What do you know of ruling?”

“More than you might think, considering I know when to heed the counsel of others.” His miraculous beeped again, he would detransform right in front of her if he didn’t leave soon, “Forgive me if I have taken up more of your time than necessary, but I really must away.” 

Quickly he turned heel and rushed toward the door to make his way back toward his tower where, no doubtedly, Nino was frantically pacing outside his door. 

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own the rights to the song, “Once Upon a Dream"


End file.
